Hunter's Creed
by Clion818
Summary: Richard is a 15 years old Faunus boy when he is accepted into Beacon Academy, trained by Connor Kenway, he is more than capable of holding his own. But he isn't going to school just to learn, something is going on and he's willing to find out what. Follow Richard as he goes undercover at Beacon academy as an Assassin of Vale.
1. Richard Kenway

Richard was 5 when he lost his parents to a fire in his house. He was alone and afraid until a man took him in as his own. This man was the same one that had saved him from the fire in his house. This man was Conner Kenway an Assassin in the city of Vale. At the young age of 5 Richard was taken under Conner's wing and trained to be an Assassin himself. For 10 long years Conner taught the young boy all he knew, how to fight, how to hide, and how to survive in this world. Now at 15 Conner trust this boy to be on his own, to make his own decisions, to follow his own path.

Richard was 5'3, he had black hair with two grey spots, but no ears or tail despite his Faunus heritage. He wore a black shirt and white reversible hood that turned black. He had dark blue jeans and black shoes. He wore a belt with two holsters each had a pistol with extended magazine cartridges. On the back of the belt was a cylindrical tube that had metal rods slightly sticking out, they seemed to be color coated. On his back he slung a black bow with a red optical sight. He wore brown gauntlets with hidden blades built in.

Richard was in a dust shop one night, he was trying to decide what dust rounds he wanted to use for his newly modified pistols. While he was deciding he could heard some people enter the shop, they had hostile intentions. He put on his hood and had some yellow dust in a tube. When he turned around two henchmen were pointing guns at him. There was a gang of them, they wore black suits with a red tie and black hat with red glasses. Except for one who wore a white coat and black hat and had a cane. He was talking to the owner of the shop.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a dust shop this late?"

"Please just take my lien and leave" the old man pleaded.

"Calm down we're not here for your money, grab the dust" he ordered the henchmen.

Richard had his hands up when one henchmen snatched the tube from him. The others collected the crystals and powder dust. Richard saw as one henchmen was ordering a girl with a red hood on. She was his age and oblivious to the robbery happening.

He drew a red sword and pointed at the girl, "alright kid put your hands were I can see them"

But the girl wasn't paying attention.

"Hey I said hands in the air, you got a death wish or something," he said as he walked to the girl and jerked her shoulder so her hood fell revealing a pair of headphones on her.

"Hmm?" She questioned. The man pointed towards his ear to signify the headphones she wore.

She took then off and asked "yes?"

"I said put your hand in the air now!"

"Are you robbing me?"

"Yes!"

"ohhh"

The next thing Richard saw was the henchmen go flying to the front of the shop. Another one pointed a gun at her and ordered "freeze!" But he went flying through the window. The henchmen with guns pointed at Richard looked away and gave Richard to opportunity to shove his hidden blades in their necks. He then ran out the broken window to take a stand with the girl. She revealed a huge scythe twice her size while Richard changed his bow to a sword and one of his pistols to a tomahawk.

The one in the white coat then said "okay, get them" and motioned the other members to fight them.

They had red machetes a and charged them. One went for the girl who used her scythe, currently in the ground to dodge and spin around to kick him in the face. She took the scythe out of the ground and took a fighting stance. Two other guys came behind her, but Richard intercepted and parried their attacks causing them to stumble back. With his tomahawk he grabbed on of their machetes and threw the guy to the ground. The other tried to slice his back, but he used his sword to block and turned for the next attack. The henchman charged but Richard used his tomahawk to change to the course of his blade. Then slashed twice with his sword before kicking him to the ground and stabbing him with his sword. Another charged the girl from the side but she pulled a trigger on her scythe and began to spin, knocking him out. She then smashed the one Richard threw on the ground with her scythe and pulled a handle back reloading the gun mechanism of her scythe. She shot multiple times as the henchmen tried to shoot her, she was too fast using the recoil as a boost she moved around them. Then she stuck her scythe in the ground again causing her to spin and she kicked another henchman to the ground. Richard got behind the last henchman who was distracted and put his tomahawk to his neck fired and spun as the last henchman was down. He and the girl stood before the man in the white coat.

"You were worth every cent, truly you were" He said to the knocked out henchman by his foot. "Well red and white I think we can all say its been an eventful evening" he said as he dropped his cigar and smashed it with his cane. "And as much as I'd love to stick around" he continued as he pointed his cane at them. "I'm afraid this is where we part ways." Then the end of his cane flicked open and a shot came towards them. Richard dodged out of the way while the girl pointed her scythe down and shot causing her to spring up and land back where she was. They both looked to see the man gone. They looked around and found him climbing a ladder to the roof. The shop owner came out and the girl asked "you ok if I go after him?" But Richard already saw a path up. He jumped off a cart and hung onto a shop sigh, he lifted himself up and climbed two windows to get to the roof. The girl used he scythe to get up much faster and the two where right behind the guy. "Hey!" the girl called out. The man mumbled to himself "persistent." Then a VTOL appeared in front of the man. He climbed up on it and yelled out behind "End of the line you two" he held a red dust crystal and threw it to their feet then held up his cane once more and shot at it.

"Get out of the way!" Richard yelled as he tackled the girl out of the blast zone. Then a figure appeared from the smoke. The girl watched in awe as she fired multiple purple shots at the VTOL causing it too shake uncontrollably. It tried to move away when the woman shot something above it then clouds appeared and it hailed on the VTOL. Then another figured appeared on the side of the VTOL. She shot red at the woman who blocked it but under her began to erupted, she backflipped out of the way. She then clustered the rubble into a spear and shot it towards the ship. The figure broke it apart but it reformed and skid on the to of the ship. Then the figured did something to turn it all into ash. The young girl turned her scythe into a rifle and Richard turned his sword back into a bow and took out a rod with red color and it transformed into and arrow with a red tip. They girl shot three times and Richard shot his arrow. She blocked all the rifle shots and absorbed the arrow. She then erupted the ground where the three of them stood. Richard rolled out of the way with the woman while the girl was throw to the ground out of the way by the woman's magic. They stood and saw the VTOL take off. The girl then turned to the woman and said "your a Huntresses" the woman looked at the girl and the girl asked "can I have your autograph?" Richard was long gone when the woman asked where he went. He could still see as the woman was mad at the girl and took her away. Richard then made his way across the roof tops to a small place he could sleep for the night.

The next day Richard changed his hood to black and returned to the crime scene to find out who would do this. He saw as the police were taking notes on the crime scene. Some one came up to him and said "It's takes brave people to stop something like this." Richard didn't know the voice and simply responded "there's not enough to keep things like this from happening."

"You have experience and are now making your own decisions Richard."

"I'm guessing you have a knife to my back?"

"Not exactly, but I do come with a request."

"What is it?"

"Not here we'll take somewhere more...appropriate"

Rrichard turned to see a man with grey hair and black glasses, he had a coffee mug in one hand and a cane in the other. Richard followed him into a dark room with one light.

"Have a seat" the man said. Richard complied and took a seat in front of a table, there was a window behind him.

"Now Richard Kenway, taught by the Assassin Conner Kenway also know as Ratonhnhaké:ton."

"Professor Ozpin headmaster at Beacon academy."

"You may already know why I brought you here."

"Not exactly, but I have my theories."

"After what happened last night I want you to attend my school."

"I've got better things to do then go to school."

"Like?"

"Like find out who would rob a dust shop just for dust."

"Trust me Richard when I say this is bigger than the Assassins, something is being planned and I want to know what."

"So now that I'm an Assassin you want me to be your eyes and ears."

"Something like that, but I also want you to improve your skills at Beacon."

"I'll go on two conditions."

"And what are they."

"One, I will not wear that uniform, two, I keep my weapons with me unless I say otherwise."

"Both can be done" Ozpin put some papers on the table and moved them towards Richard. "I hope you'll enjoy you stay at Beacon, the last transport leaves in twenty minutes, but you should make it." Opzin looked up to see the passes gone along with Richard and the window was open. 'Good luck Richard.'


	2. First day

On the transport Richard kept his hood on at all times. With his trustee bow slung on his back the ride was relatively quiet. Until an blonde kid vomited due to air sickness. He got off to see beacon, a huge academy with multiple structures and a large center tower. 'Haven't been to school in 10 years, they changed so much' he thought. He walked around the area where the ship landed and looked to find a quiet place to sit. That was until he saw two girls have an argument in the middle of the area. One was the same girl Richard fought with at the burglary. He saw a large red cloud and the girl sneezed into it causing an explosion. A bottle went flying and landed next to another girl reading a book. She picked it up and walked over to the two girls, the one with a white pony tail seemed to be glad with whatever the girl reading a book said at first but then she was angered to a point were she just grabbed the dust bottle from her and walked off. The young girl turned to talk to the other but she had walked off as well. 'She's having trouble making new friends' Richard thought. As he began to walk away and continue his search.

He ended up slouching in a tree in the recreational center. He stayed there for a while until he was woken up by a large mechanical sound. He saw the same girl and the blonde guy that threw up talking. She had taken out her gun scythe and showed it to the guy. He just took out a sword and shield, but he seemed to have some trouble with the shield's retractable capability. They talked for a bit before a certain line got Richard's attention, the girl said "not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days." The guy responded with "yea the classics." Richard thought to join the conversation at this point "tell me about it" he said jumping down from the tree and walked over to them. "Richard Kenway, most people just call me Ricky though" he said to the two. The girl responded with "Ruby Rose" and the blonde with "Jaune, Jaune Arc."

"Good to meet you two and to finally get your name" 'Ricky said ending with a look at Ruby.

She asked "do I know you?"

"Maybe this will help" Ricky said as he unslung his bow and handed it to her. She was already examining its compartments as Ricky changed his hoodie from black to white and put on his hood and gave a 'ta-da' pose.

"Your that guy from the dust shop!" Ruby said.

Ricky took back his bow and said "yep" he then said "I over heard you conversation on classic weapons."

Jaune then said "oh yeah my sword here is a classic, my great great grandfather used it in the war."

"Nice, good to see other people's appreciation" Ricky replied.

"You use a classic?" Ruby asked.

Ricky then continued "yeah, my bow here may be modified" he changed his bow to a sword "but it's still a simple bow at the end of the day" he said changing it back and slinging it on his back.

"Cool" Jaune said.

"After all it's not the weapon it's the wielder" Ricky said.

"Yeah I get it" Jaune said.

"Hey are we suppose to be somewhere right now?" Ruby asked

"There's a welcoming ceremony in the main hall, we should make it before they start if we walk now" Ricky said.

"Well let's go" Ruby said begging to walk ahead.

"The main halls that way" Ricky said pointing in the opposite direction. Ruby turned and began to walk back. "Right let's go" she said walking ahead once more. Some thing about this girl was different he thought on the way there.

When they arrived there was a large crowd of students and Ruby was called by a blonde with long hair. "Oh hey I gotta go I'll see you guys after the ceremony" and left. Jaune called out "hey wait" then turned to Ricky, he was already gone and Jaune said to himself "ah great where am I suppose to find another nice quirky girl to talk to." Ricky took a stand near the back so he wouldn't be in the middle of taller students. He saw just fine where he was. The ceremony began with professor Ozpin who started with, "I'll keep this brief." 'Just how I like it' Ricky thought. Ozpin continued "you have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to whole your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people, but I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy." 'Great job Opzin, really inspiring the next generation' Ricky thought sarcastically. Opzin continued "in need of purpose, direction, you assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far, it is up to you to take the first step." He then walked away and Glynda Goodwitch came on the mic "you will gather in the ball room tonight, tomorrow your initiation begins be ready, you are dismissed."

That night all the students gathered in the ball room for what most call 'a big slumber party.' Ricky changed into grey pajama pants and had a white shirt on. He didn't bother setting up his sleeping bag instead he leaned against the corner where a pillar and wall met and leaned on the provided pillow. Someone light a candle in the room causing Ricky to turn around the pillar to see the girl that walked away from Ruby. Ricky saw as Ruby was dragged by the blonde girl from earlier. She wanted the two to properly meet. He over herd the conversation and took note when the blonde girl said "well Blake." 'That a name I'll remember' Ricky thought as he continued to hear the conversation. He also herd her say "I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister." 'And that's another.' He continued to see when Yang held up Ruby and the two began a 'cat fight.' Then the girl with white hair came up to them and had them stop. Blake blew out the candle and silence fills the room. 'finally' Ricky thought as he turned back and began to sleep.

The next morning Ricky woke up refreshed 'it's much better than cold floor' he thought remembering when he slept on roof tops before this. He got up and did his routine as if he was at the homestead. He ate the provided breakfast went to brush his teeth and then went to the locker room to get his weapons. He put them in to keep from any questions and luckily they were still there. He put on his brown gauntlets over his white sleeves, buckled his belt with his two pistols and slung his bow on his back and was leaving when Jaune appeared next to him with a spear in his hood and pinned to the wall. "Hey Jaune" Ricky said. "Hey" was all Jaune said then the intercom went on calling for all first year students to report to Beacon Cliff.

Ricky made his way and found the other first year students lined up on the cliff standing above some platforms, he stood on one and waited for what ever happened next. Ozpin and Goodwitch stood in front of them. Ozpin began with "for years all of you have trained to become warriors and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forrest." Goodwitch then spoke "now I'm sure many of you have herd rumors about the assignment of teams, well allow us to put and end to you confusion, each of you will be given teammates today." Ricky could here Ruby squeak out a "what." Opzin continued "These Teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well, that being said the first person you make eye-contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Ricky herd another squeal from Ruby "what!?" Ozpin continued "after you've partnered up make you way to the northern end of the forests, you will meet opposition along the way do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you will die. You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene, you will find an abandon temple at the end of the path containing several relics, each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff we will guard that item as well as your standing and grade you appropriately, are there any questions?" Jaune said "yea um sir?" But Opzpin just said "good now take your positions." Ricky took a low stance and waited for the platform to launch him. Ricky was one of the first to be launched and he was sent soaring into the air into the Emerald Forest.


	3. The Emerald Forrest

Ricky took out one of his pistols and transformed it into a tomahawk. He grabbed on to a branch and sung onto another landing perfectly. He looked around to see the other students each with a landing strategy of their own. He began to free-run jumping from tree branch to tree branch. He remembered the frontier where Conner taught him the basics of free-running. 'Keep track of your surroundings and follow nature's path through the trees' he remembered Conner telling him. He easily kept moving on passing anyone or anything under him. Until the tree he was on was cut down. He tried to jump quickly but ended up sliding down a tree trunk to the forrest floor. He was met with multiple Beowolves all surrounding him. Ricky channelled his Aura and stared directly into the eyes of the leader. His eye flashed and the Beowolves went fleeing into the Forrest, 'thought so' Ricky thought and tried to find a good start to continue his free-run. He found a tree with a slanted trunk going up and ran up to continue his free-run. After a while he made it to the ruins of the Forrest temple. He took a look at the 'relics' witch were just chess pieces. He took a seat in the middle and meditated channelling his Aura once more and creating a sorta force field around the temple that scared anyone or thing that came near.

* * *

Yang had already became partners with Blake and the two were making their way to the temple when Blake stopped. "What's up?" Yang asked.

"I sense a strong Aura coming from the direction we're going."

"Let's check it out"

"That may not be a good idea"

"It's not like its a monster or something"

The two continued walking cautiously through the Forrest until they came across the temple ruins.

"I guess this is the place"

"I think so, the Aura is definitely strong here"

They walked down with their weapons ready, but were surprised to find another student just sitting in the center. He had a white hood on and his head was down so they couldn't see his face.

"Hey is this the forrest temple?" Yang asked but the student just continued to sit there.

"Hello!?" Yang raised her voice this time and it seemed to get to Ricky. He opened his eyes and lost focus. Blake could feel the Aura around disappear. Ricky was rubbing his head trying to stand up. He began to talk "I'm sorry I, I couldn't hear you I was so focus I , uhh just give me a sec" he got a headache from the quick interruption.

"You ok?" Yang asked.

"Yeah just, I, my head just hurts it'll go away just give it some time"

"Was that your Aura creating a force field" Blake asked.

"Yes, my semblance allows my to input fear into anything or one, it's easier with direct eye contact, but creating a force field takes time and focus" Ricky answered. "Names Richard by the way."

"Yang"

"Blake"

"So is this the temple?" Yang asked once more.

"I thinks so ,the so called 'relics' are just chess pieces"

Yang walked up to them and saw they were black and gold. Ricky simply leaned against a pillar and waited for them to choose. With some time Yang finally choose the golden Knight piece and Blake seemed to agree with her choice.

"You gona pick one Rick?" Yang asked Ricky.

"I'll wait until I get my partner."

"Suit your self."

After a loud scream was herd from throughout the forrest Yang responded with "some girl's in trouble! Blake did you hear that!?" She asked again "Blake did you hear that? What should we do?" Then Ruby came out falling out of the sky screaming "heads up!" Then Jaune also came out of nowhere but in a different direction and collided with Ruby and the two went into the tree line. "Did your sister just fall out of the sky?" Blake asked Yang then an Ursa came out of the woods but there was a pink explosion behind it and it fell on the ground revealing a ginger girl who was riding on it. She seemed to be upset and was looking at the Ursa when another student clad in a green tunic came from behind the Ursa's body. The ginger girl quickly made her way to the temple and grabbed the golden rook piece and was singing "I'm queen of the castle" when the guy in a green tunic called out "NORA!" And she replied with a simple "coming Ren" and skipped off. Blake asked "did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Before yang could answer a death stalker came out of the Forrest chasing a red haired girl. She called out "Jaune!" Then Ruby came out of the trees and landed next to Yang who questioned "Ruby?" Ruby responded with "Yang!" the two were about to hug when Nora got between then and said "Nora!" Then Blake asked "Did she just run all the way here with a death stalker on her tail?" Then Yang literally exploded yelling "I can't take it anymore! Can every one just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again!?" Ricky seemed to enjoy watching this unfold, he wasn't sure if it was because he wasn't a part of it or that someone else was suffering. Then Ruby said "um Yang" and pointed up.

Ricky herd "I said jump" from Ruby,"she's gona fall" from Blake and "she's falling" from Ren. He then saw Jaune fall and the girl with white hair fall on his back. Then the red haired girl landed in front of them. Yang then said ,"great the gangs all here now we can die together" sarcastically. Ruby responded with "Not if I can help it" and charged the death stalker. She was nocked back and landed on the ground. She got up and yelled "don't worry totally fine!" She turned to see the death stalker behind her. She was running away when a Nevermore came in and shot a barrage of huge feathers. One caught Ruby's cape and stopped her in her tracks. Yang tried to help but was stopped by the feathers. The death stalker was about to strike Ruby when the white haired girl moved and froze it's stinger. Ricky herd Ruby call "Weiss!" and 'weiss' gave Ruby a monologe. Then Yang went and hugged her sister.

The Nevermore flew over head. When they all gathered Jaune asked "guys that thing's circling back, what are we gona do?"

Weiss responded with "look there's no sense in dilly-dallying our objective is right in front of us."

Ruby then said "She's right our mission is to grab and artifact and make it back to the cliffs there's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live that is an idea I can get behind" Jaune responded. Ruby grabbed a golden Knight and Jaune grabbed a golden rook. The death stalker was moving it's stinger and the ice was cracking. "Time we left" Ren said. "Right lets go" Ruby said. They all began to run Yang stayed and stared into space when Blake came up to her and asked "what is it?" Yang responded with "nothing" and began to follow. "You coming?" she asked Ricky. "I still need a partner" he answered. "Okay" and Blake ran with the others. Awhile after they left the death stalker broke free and tried to attack Ricky who gave it a deep stare and it began to go in the direction the others went. 'Ah great there gona need help' Ricky thought as he grabbed a black pawn piece and ran in the direction of the others. He couldn't keep up with the death stalker and it soon left his sight. After a long time of running and hearing buildings fall he finally made it to to the cliff and found Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Phyrra watching Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang try to take down the Nevermore. Ricky saw the plan they had and saw how Ruby was using too much ammo for it to succeed. He took out a blue marked collapsible arrow and held it up until is shone yellow he drew with his bow and took aim. "Your never gona make that shot, even if you had a rifle!" Jaune said "he's right" Ren supported. Ricky simply keepted aiming and focused on where Ruby would stop. She ran out of ammo three fourths of the way up the cliff. 'There' Ricky thought and let go of the arrow that went speeding towards the Nevermore, it left a trail of yellow and hit directly on the center of the back of the blade on Cresent Rose. That gave Ruby the boost she needed and she landed on top of the cliff while the Neevermore's body and head fell down. "Wow" was all Jaune said as he saw the Nevermore dead.

They all headed up the cliff and when they all got up Blake asked "what made you come?"

Ricky responded with "I saw the death stalker make its way to you guys I couldn't keep up with it, but luckily I got here in time to help with the Nevermore."

"And how exactly did you help?" Weiss asked.

"When I got here I saw your plan in action, I also saw Ruby use to much ammo at the begining giving her speed but it also died out at the end."

"soo?" Yang questioned.

"soo that arrow I shot gave Ruby the needed boost to finish the job." Ricky grew annoyed with the girls and was activating his sembalance causing all of them to move back a little execpt Ruby who walked up to him and held out her arm "thanks" she said. Ricky's looked down but didn't move his head, with his hood still on no one could see his face. He walked away from them all with his sembalance still activated to keep them away. They all got back to the main hall were their teams were given. Ricky was waiting for his name until he heard Ozpin say "And finally..." 'What!?' Ricky thought. He wasn't assigned to be on a team. At the end of the ceremony all the students were given their dorms but Ricky was called to Ozpin's office.


	4. The Team and Training

Ricky entered Ozpin's office to find him sitting behind his desk. He moved in front of him and saw three pieces of paper each had a student's name and seemed to be apologizing for something. That was all Ricky could see until Ozpin began.

"It seems that three of the first year students were not ready for this level of combat." He took the three papers and put them in his desk.

"Are they..."

Ozpin nodded.

They both stayed in silence to think about the lives taken by the Grimm.

Ozpin then moved his head up "I will put you as a fifth member of one of the current teams, the name won't change but you will be a full member."

"Witch team?"

Ozpin handed Ricky a scroll that had a Headmaster's Note on it. The note read 'Richard Kenway is to become a fith member of team RWBY. He will be part of the team for the four years at Beacon academy and will graduate as part of team RWBY. He will take part in team training, practice, and study. A separate guest room will be his living quarters for the time he is at Beacon. -Headmaster Proffesor Ozpin'

"Your scroll will unlock your room as well as the room the rest of your team sleeps in." Ozpin said, "you should be able to find your room via your scroll."

"Alright then" and Ricky left Ozpin's office.

Ricky was looking at his schedule for his classes on his way to his room when he saw Ruby and the others enter a room of their own followed by team JNPR. Ricky was about to walk over until he saw the time on his scroll. '8:46, their probably tried after today I'll just send a message' and walked to his room. He unlocked the door with his scroll and walked in a small room with one bed and a desk. He saw a bag on his bed there was an assassin's symbol on it and walked over and saw a note on it he recognized the writing style, he read 'Richard, when everyone in the homestead herd you were attending school they wanted to send you this, unfortunetly there is no postal service so I came to drop this off. I couldn't stay long so I left this note, remember to keep us a secret. -Ratonhnhaké:ton, Conner Kenway.' Ricky looked in the bag to see a set of assasin's robes much like the ones Conner wore. They were smaller but they were very similar, there was also a blade sharpening kit that Rick set on his desk. He also found a hoodie like his that could reverse to be black but with pockets and the white side had a wolf print with the two sides of the assassin's symbol on each side, they were too far to be recognized as the symbol. He folded the robes and put them back in the bag. He stored the bag in the small closet in his room and hung the hoodie with the provided hangers. He took the hoodie he wore off and changed into his sleeping wear and went to sleep on his bed.

* * *

The next morning Ricky woke up to loud footsteps outside his room. When he looked out he saw Ren turning the corner of the hall outside his room. He looked at his scroll '8:55' he then went to his schedule to see what time he had class. 'The Known Histories, 10:30 am; Grimm anatomy 1:45pm; Team RWBY Practice 4:00pm Practice Room 5C' he then went back in his room and changed into his usual atire, but he put on his new hoodie with the black wolf print. He walked out and made his way out of the dorm building. He went to the recreational center were some of the third and fourth year students were. They didn't have 9:00 classes so they relaxed in this area. Rick found a suitable tree, climbed up, slouched against it, and began meditating and waited.

He slowly brought his mind out of meditation and checked his scroll '10:15am' he jumped down and began to walk to the main buildings of Beacon. He made it to his first class at 10:26 and took a seat at the top of the leveled desks. He watch as different students walked in he even saw Ruby and Yang walk in with Pyrrha and Jaune. His hood was still on and he sat in class listening to the lecture the Proffesor gave, he was very quick with his lessons. He then called out Ricky for wearring his hood. 'Mr. Kenway take off that hood!" Ricky obliged and took off his hood revealing his blue eyes and short black hair, being on the top level no one could see the grey spots in his hair. "Now tell me one of the major losses Washington faced!" Ricky knew exactly who Washington was, he remembered Conner tell him about the war for a third kingdom one that was free from the king of the British kingdom, now known as Vacuo. "Washington face a sever loss at the battle of the New York district when his rebel troops were driven out by the British Redcoats." Ricky knew a lot about history, he learned from Conner who had one of the local teachers tutor him on the subject and even teach him more than the other students because those who cannot learn from history are destined to repeat it. "That is correct" the Proffesor took a sip of his coffee and the bell rang. Ricky put his hood back on and walked out of class first.

Lunch came next and he stayed away from other students as he ate alone. No one dared approach him as he was using his semblance to keep around him quiet.

He made his way to his next class witch was as boring for him since he knew lots about the Grimm and their weak spots, the Proffesor's sense of humor didn't help either. The most excited he got was when Weiss messed up during a fight with a Boarbatusk. But all that got out of him was a head raise as the fight ended and Weiss was victorious. The bell once again rang and he made his way back to the recreational center and once again climbed up a tree and meditated. He slowly brought himself out as he faintly herd someone call his name. He herd Ruby keep calling and she finally was standing under the tree he was in.

"Ricky we got team practice and as team leader yo-"

"You don't have to put the 'team leader' act on, it's what gets to your head, just act normal and you'll be fine with your team" he said jumping out of the tree and landing next to Ruby he was only three inches taller than her.

"Okay but we still have to train as a team" she said.

"Fifth building training room C, let's go" he said walking towards the training buildings. When they got in the locker rooms the others seemed surprise that he came to training. Ricky didn't look at them he kept his hood on and took out his weapons from his locker and headed in the training room. Ruby started with Beowolves as the four girls took them out using their weapon Ricky simply stood slouched against the wall of the room and watched the simulation unfold. He only intervened if someone would have gotten seriously injured if it was real, he did so by shooting pure light arrows and then slouched back against the wall. After the simulation ended there was still a hour of training time for them so Ruby said they should just spar until time was up. Ricky once again stood slouched against the wall watching examining the fighting style they all used. After some time the four girls gathered in the center and started whispering. Ricky activated his Eagle vision and saw as one by one they slightly turned a light red meaning they wanted to fight him, but not kill him.

Yang was first as she charged Ricky with her right arm. He moved his head to the right without moving out of his spot, the wall behind him cracked from Yang's punch. Her left fist tried to punch his gut but Ricky grabbed it and starred into Yang's eyes, his own flashed and Yang let out a soft "uh-oh." Ricky then kicked Yang back, she landed with her face down and stayed down. Weiss was next as she charged with her Myrtenaster Ricky moved away from the wall to dodge. Weiss began to stab in his direction, Ricky took out his pistol holstered on his left and transformed it into a tomahawk and redirected her strikes until Myrtenaster got got suck under the tomahawk. Ricky took the opportunity to look into Weiss's eyes. She began to tremble and got sloppy with her next attacks. Ricky once again redirected Myrtenaster and kicked Weiss's foot causing her to fall on her back. Ricky pointed his tomahawk at her on the ground signaling her defeat. Then Blake threw her Gambol Shroud causing Ricky to move his tomahawk to deflect it. Then Blake duel wielded with her sheath and Ricky transformed his bow to a sword. She attacked by spinning her body keeping her eyes from making contact with Ricky's. One of her strong downward strikes caused Ricky to slide back in his defensive position. She threw her Gambol Shroud once more but Ricky caught it with his tomahawk and pull hard bringing Blake to the ground she looked up directly into Ricky's eyes and stayed down. Ruby came in and kicked Ricky causing him to roll back and his hood to come off, but he instantly straightened himself. Ruby kept on the offensive she, stroke down with her Crescent Rose bent back Ricky used his sword and tomahawk to block, he starred into Ruby's eyes but she was unaffected as she just continued to stare back gritting her teeth. Ruby fired Crescent Rose pushing her away from the stale-mate. She began attacking Ricky from all direction. Ricky kept up with each attack blocking with his sword or tomahawk or sometime both. Ruby sped past him with her Crescent Rose behind Ricky once again used both his weapons to block. Ruby then began firing pushing Ricky closer to her until they were back-to-back. Ruby then brought Crescent Rose around her left to her right to strike, Ricky held up both his weapons to block again he locked his tomahawk on Crescent Rose so when Ruby fired it stopped and Ricky pulled it away disarming Ruby she moved quick to try and pick it up but was stopped when Ricky ran towards it and slid sweeping her off her feet and she rolled, stopped, and faced the ceiling. She leaned up and Ricky had his sword pointed at her. The two stared until Ricky transformed his sword back into his bow and slung it on his back then held out his hand. Ruby grabbed it and he pulled her up. No words where exchanged as Ricky walked out of the room and Ruby's scroll received a notification and spoke "training time over".


	5. A Cruel Past

The first few weeks of school went on in a pattern. Ricky kept to himself most of the time and scored just above average on assignments for his classes, but no one knew how as they saw he spent most of his time in the retraction center slouching in a tree. He sat alone at lunch and breakfast and stayed in his room when he wasn't in the recreation center or at class. On one piticular day during luch Ricky was sitting alone as always when Ruby came to the table he was at. She walked over next to him and asked "mind if I sit here?" Ricky had his hood on, he looked at the table where team RWBY and JNPR sat. They were engaged in their own conversation and didn't see Ruby with him. "Go ahead" he said he was wondering why Ruby was unaffected by his aura. She sat next to him, Ricky was eating his lunch and Ruby was just looking at him trying to see under his hood. Ricky could feel her stare and took of his hood to see if she would say anything.

She asked "is there any reason you have to be a 'lone wolf'?"

Ricky swallowed the food in his mouth and answered "no."

"So what keeps you from away from everyone?"

"It's complicated... I don't want to talk about it."

Ruby stayed quit as she continued to look at Ricky.

"Not here at least... I can tell you more another time when not that many people are around."

"Can you at least sit with your team?"

Ricky smirked and said "you just had to asked nicely." He got up and Ruby followed as he took a seat where team RWBY and JNPR were, Ruby sat next to him.

"So the lone wolf makes his way to the pack, what'd my sister do to get you to come here?" Yang asked Ricky.

"She asked" Ricky answered.

Team RWBY and JNPR continued their conversations and when Ricky was asked questions he kept the answers short and simple.

"So where did you live before you came to Beacon?" Yang asked.

"The Davenport Homestead." Ricky answered .

"Isn't that outside the border of Vale." Jaune asked.

"yes it is." Ricky replied once more.

"How has that community stayed functioning with Grimm literally surrounding it?" Blake asked.

"A few individuals like my mentor keep the town safe, there is also low Grimm activity in the area."

"What made you leave?" Ruby asked.

Ricky thought hard for an answer, there was no reason for him to leave the homestead. Conner told him he was free to go were he wants do as he wants.

"I had lived there for ten years, guess I just wanted to see the rest of the world."

The bell rang signaling the students with class after lunch to start heading to them. They all went to their classes and after Ricky returned to the recreational center like he always does. After an hour or so Ruby came to remind him of training and he would go with her to train with the rest of team RWBY.

Training usually started with a simulation of certain Grimm, Beowolves and Boarbatusk mainly. After the simulation ended sparring would pass the time left. Ricky only sparred every three sessions or so each time was some what more challenging then the last. This day in particular Ruby wanted to spar against Ricky one on one. No matter how many times they fought Ricky couldn't understand why Ruby was unaffected by his semblance. They would make direct eye contact, but she still went on without hesitation. Ricky took his usual stance and Ruby seemed to change her's to a lower attack stance. She attacked first swinging Crescent Rose horizontally at first, Ricky had no trouble dodging and blocking. Then Ruby started to attack diagonally and vertically. This caused Ricky to use his sword and tomahawk to block the downward strikes. Ruby made sure to keep Crescent Rose from locking with Ricky's tomahawk so she wouldn't be disarmed. She swung from the left and low, Ricky saw what she was doing as he himself did this. She was trying to sweep his feet to knock him down. For some reason something in Ricky said just let it happen, so he blocked left at normal height and felt the back of his right foot get pulled first then his left. He fell to the ground and saw Crescent Rose pointed at him. He herd a mechanical sound and leaned up to see Ruby with her hand towards him, she was smiling. Ricky grabbed it and got off the floor. He looked over at Yang and Weiss who were shocked at what they just saw, Blake just kept reading her book. Yang then walked over and said "first she gets you to sit with us at lunch now she beats you during a one on one match?" Ricky looked over a Yang and smirked seeing her watch what she thought would be impossible. "I guess she took notice in my fighting style and changed accordingly" Ricky said. Ruby's scroll beeped and then spoke, "training time over." They left the training room and put their weapons in their lockers and returned to their dorm.

That night Ricky sat on the roof, the questions he was asked at lunch made him think about Davenport, about his past. Ruby came to the roof to find Ricky alone as always. She walked over and asked "can we talk about it now?" Ricky looked around with his eagle vision activated, he didn't see anyone hiding trying to listen in. Ricky took his hood off and began "Ruby... I'm actually a Faunus these grey spots... it's fur." Ruby looked at him in silence. Ricky held her arm and moved it so her hand would touch his spots. She felt the fur just like a wolf pelt. He let go of her arm and moved back to where he was. He sat in the corner of the roof leaning on the raised edges, Ruby took a seat at his feet and continued to look at him. Ricky started from the beginning "My father was one of the few Wolf Faunus in the world, my mother was a human who my father fell in love with. They married and had me, but I wasn't born with ears like my father or other Faunus. At first I was thought to be human, but as my hair grew so did my fur. when I was sent to school I didn't have many friends... No one wanted to be around me, and those who did made fun of me, called me names, they said I was different. But at first it didn't matter because I would come home to my parents who loved me no matter what. My mom said that I was special by not having ears, well she said not yet, my parents thought they might sprout when I was ten... But they never saw me turn ten..." Ricky looked down and Ruby had moved next to him her hand was on his shoulder he looked back at her and continued. "When I was five the white fang didn't exactly like my father for some reason. They came to our house one night and set fire to it. I remember waking up to smoke and darkness I went out my door and saw the flames from out living room, I called out for my parents, but got no response. I was alone and I was scared. A white hooded man appeared from the other side of the hall and ran to me. He picked me up and jumped through the flames of our living room. We made it outside and he put me down next to a fireman who kept watch on me. He ran back into the house and a few minutes later he came back out his cloths were black and singed from the fire. He looked at me and then ran away. I was sent to an orphanage after. I thought I'd be used to the name calling and bullying, but there was a difference, there I didn't have some one to say I was special, to comfort me,to know someone cared. I spent two full weeks of name calls and discrimination in there. Then one day I was adopted by someone. I first saw him tall and broad, he had white robes on with some straps on, his hair was shaved into a Mohawk and tied back in a pony tail. He put his knee down and stared into my eyes and all he said was 'I'm sorry'."

Ricky had a tear fall down his check remembering the cruel world of his past. How the white fang took his family from him. How he was told he was different by humans and Faunus alike. The two sat on the roof for awhile longer before Ricky got up and went to his room. He lied down and thought, he had just shared his past with Ruby something he never does no matter who asked. But Ruby was different to him for some reason he couldn't tell why. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.


	6. The Jaune 'Arc'

The next day Ricky went through his daily routine and finished his first class of the day. Then at lunch team RWBY and team JNPR were once again conversing on different subjects. Nora was talking about a dream she had.

"So there we where in the middle of the night"

"It was day" Ren seemed to be correcting her.

"We where surrounded by Ursi"

"They were Beowolves"

"Dozens of them!"

"Two of them"

"But they were no match and in the end Ren and I took them down and made a boat load of lien selling Ursa skin rugs."

"She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now"

Not everyone seemed interested in the story. Jaune was a bit off and Pyrrha was concerned about him.

"Jaune are you okay?"

"Hm oh yeah, why?

"It's just that you seem a little..."

"Not okay" Ricky said finishing Ruby's statement.

"Guys I'm fine seriously, look" he held up his thumb and gave a sheepish smile with a small laugh.

Actual laughing was herd from a nearby table and they could see Cardin and his team poking fun at velvet, a Faunus girl with rabbit ears. Everyone turned back at Jaune who was looking away.

"Jaune, Cardin has been picking on you since the first day of school" Pyrrha once again started.

"Who Cardin Winchester naa he just likes to mess around you know practical jokes"

"He's a bully" Ruby said

"Oh please, name one time he's 'bullied' me"

"He put you in a rocket locker and sent you flying away" Ricky said.

"I didn't land far from the school"

"Jaune you know if you ever need help you can just ask" Pyrrha stated.

"Oh, we'll break his legs!" Nora proclaimed.

"Guys really it's fine besides it's not like he's only a jerk to me, he's a jerk to everybody"

"Ow that hurts!" was herd from Cardin's location everyone looked to see him grabbing one of Velvet's rabbit ears. "Please stop" she pleaded.

Cardin looked at his team that was laughing with him and said "I told you it was real."One of his team mates said "what a freak."

That made Ricky snap as no one noticed him get up from the table and move to Cardin. He grabbed Cardin's wrist and said "let her go Cardin."

"And what are you gona-" Ricky stared into Cardin's eyes and this time both of his own flashed. Cardin began to tremble and let go of velvet's ear immediately. Ricky then turned to the rest of Cardin's team and his eyes flashed once more as they began to shake as well. "Now what was this I herd about 'freaks'?" Ruby held onto Ricky's arm when he look over at her, she had her head shaking. Ricky closed his eyes and took a deep breath, Cardin's team stopped shake and were questioning 'who is that guy?' Ricky returned to the table with the others. "Atrotious," Pyrrha began "I can't stand people like him."

"He's not the only one" Blake said.

"It must be hard to be a Faunus" Yang said.

Jaune left the table and Pyrrha watched still concerned. Ruby thought for a while and looked at Ricky who had his hood on she couldn't see his eyes. She remembered what he told her the night before about how he lost his parents at a young age just because his father married a human. After some time everyone left to change back into uniform but Ricky went straight to his next class. The day went on as usual with training and classes.

About a week went by and Jaune became more scarce around school, he'd be out really early and come back to the dorm realy late. There was a field trip planned at the end of the week witch got Ruby and the others somewhat excited. The night before as Ricky walked to his room he over heard a conversation between Jaune and Ruby when he turned the corner he saw Jaune sitting on the floor infront of his team's dorm.

"Something wrong?" Ricky asked.

Jaune just looked down and said "I'm a failure."

Ricky looked at Ruby as she just said "nope."

"Nope?" Jaune asked.

"Nope" she said once more "your a leader now Jaune your not allowed to be a failure."

"But what if i am a failure at being a leader?"

Ruby once again gave a simple "nope"

"You know your not the easiest person to talk to about this kinda stuff."

"nope" Ruby said again and took a seat next to Jaune and Ricky took a seat I front of Ruby and took off his hood.

"Jaune maybe you were a failure when you were a kid," Jaune moaned slightly, "you might of even been a failure the fist day we all met," another somewhat louder groan, "but you can't be one now, you know why?"

"uhh because-"

"Because it's not just about you anymore" Ricky said entering the conversation.

'Mmhum' Ruby then said "you've got a team now Jaune we both do and if we fail we'll just be bringing them down with us," Ruby put her arm around Ricky, he smiled and she said, "we have to put our teammates first, and our selves second." Ricky and Ruby both got up as Ruby continued "your team deserves a great leader Jaune and I think that can be you." Ruby went back to her room and Ricky said "goodnight Jaune" and he entered his own room. He changed and once again fell asleep.

* * *

The next day was the field trip, it was to the Forrest of Forever Fall. The teams all followed Professor Goodwitch into the Forrest, they all marveled at the beauty of the red leaves constantly falling of the trees. The Professor started "yes students the Forrest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to sight see Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this Forrest and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." She stopped and turn facing all the students, "each of you is to gather one jars worth of red sap," she held up an example jar full of red tree sap, "however this Forrest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates, we will rendezvous (Ron-de-vu) here at 4 o'clock have fun." Jaune went off with Cardin's team for some reason while the rest of team RWBY and JNPR went on into the forrest. After some time everyone agreed on a place to start collecting sap. Everyone easily collected some. Ruby asked Ricky "does the Forrest remind you of home?" Ricky was slouching against the tree Ruby was collecting sap from. "not this one it's much more... Beautiful then home" Ricky said looking around him all the red leaves falling the scent of tree sap it was peaceful.

The peace was broken when a loud Ursa scream was herd throughout the forrest. Ruby stood up and asked "did you guys hear that?" Then Team CRDL were running one of them was yelling "Ursa! Ursa!" He bumped into Yang and she held him up by the collar and asked "What?! Where!? He pointed behind him "back there it's got Cardin!" Pyrrha dropped her jar and realized "Jaune!" Ruby ordered "Yang you and Blake go get Professor Goodwitch!" Pyrrha ordered "You two go with them there could be more." Pyrrha, Ruby, Weiss, and Ricky took out they're weapons, Ricky kept his bow out with a red tipped arrow ready to fire. They ran towards the sound of the roar. They found Cardin on the floor moving away from the big Ursa. It was about to strike when Jaune blocked the swipe. Weiss took her stance and Ricky drew his arrow, but Pyrrha said "wait." They watched as Jaune slashed the Ursa causing it to stumble back. It tried to hit Jaune but he rolled out of the way. It swept low with its right claw and jaune jumped up to dodge. It quickly punched him with it's left and Jaune went flying back, but he got up instantly and charged the Ursa. He jumped to strike, but the Ursa smacked him away with it's left claw. Jaune went rolling away and slowly got up to face the Ursa. He and the Ursa charged each other. Jaune had his shield above him blocking the Ursa's attack and he jumped up to slash it's head off. Pyrrha had her hand up and slowly moved it down. Ruby looked at her and asked "uhh, what?" Weiss also asked "how did you...?" Pyrrha began with "well Ruby has her speed, Ricky has fear, you have your glyphs, my semblance is polarity."

"Whoa you can control poles" Ruby said in awe and confusion.

"No you dunce it means she has control over magnetism" Weiss corrected.

"Magnets are cool too."

Pyrrha began to walk away when Weiss stopped her with "wait we're are you going?"

Ruby continued with "yea we gotta tell them what happened."

Pyrrha answered with "we could... or perhaps we could just keep it our little secret."

She walked away as the three of them saw Jaune give a hand to Cardin. He pulled him up and told him something before he began to walk back with them.

"Welcome back Jaune" Ricky said to him.

"It's good to have you back" Ruby added.

"Thanks guys" he said and they walked back to the school.


	7. Little Red and the Mountain Sound Wolf

Finals week came and went pretty quickly as the tests were generally easy for Ricky. Time also passed as he would tutor Ruby on some subjects she had trouble with like history. All in all everyone passed their classes and the first semester at beacon was over, finally. Even though classes were over training was still a necessity among teams, although not mandatory. One Thursday after training Ricky was in the locker room about to put his gear away. He took out his right holstered pistol and looked at it. He took out the magazine and saw that he had standard bullets even though he modified them an entire semester ago. He also saw his mini quiver with half it's arrows missing. He decided to finally get those dust rounds and he thought he would 'open up' to his team more by inviting them to go into town. He walked over to where the rest of the team was.

"Hey, I need to go into town to get some supplies, any of you wanna come along?" He asked his team.

"I'm good on dust for awhile" Weiss replied.

"yeah I'm kinda loaded with shotgun rounds, but thanks for asking" Yang also said.

He turned to Blake and Ruby "what about you two?"

"Thanks but I'm good" Blake answered.

"I actually need more .50 cal. sniper rounds, so I'll go" Ruby said.

"Alright then we'll see you guys later" he said as he and Ruby exited the locker room with their weapons. They took a ship into town and made their way to 'Dust till Dawn' to see if the shop was going to be re-opened. It was planned, but it seems the old man had trouble with the shop after all the dust was stolen. They instead went to another dust shop. Ricky was surprised by the prices just last semester a small red crystal was ten lien now it was thirty-five plus extra to get it custom cut. Ricky looked into his wallet, he had enough to get one tube of refined dust and three crystals uncut. Ruby in the mean time was looking at the 'Weapons of Today' magazine. Ricky bought what he could with some lien to spare. He then walked over to Ruby and looked over her shoulder to see what she was reading. There was a picture of some sort of rifle with a whole bunch of statistics about it. She noticed Ricky looking over her shoulder and asked "cool, isn't it?" Ricky went 'mmm' "it's no bow and arrow I'll say that much." She giggled a little witch put a small smile on Ricky's face. She put the magazine back and the two made their way to the ammunition shop in Vale. On their way Ricky noticed a stage that was set up near the docks, it seemed like there was going to be a concert for the early arrivals to Vale for the Vytal Festival. He saw a poster that showed the band that was going to be performing, it was one known as 'Of Monsters and Men' this got Ricky thinking.

He asked Ruby "hey Ruby do you like music?"

"Who doesn't?" She replied.

"What kind?" He asked trying to get as much info as possible.

"Imagine Dragons is a good band, but my favorite is Of Monsters and Men."

"Interesting" they continued to walk to the ammunition store.

When they got there they both were greeted by the store keeper who they both knew.

"Ahhh Ruby, Richard my two youngest customers, come in come in" he insisted in a deep but friendly voice.

"Hey Niko" Ruby greeted.

"So what can I do for you two today?"

"Dust rounds .9mm, two mags please" Ricky said as he put the tube of dust on the counter.

"Dust eh? stuffs getting expensive now."

"Tell me about it" Ricky replied.

"And for you?" Niko asked Ruby.

".50 cal. High velocity Sniper rounds, one mag" She answered.

"Let's see here now..." Niko mumbled as he looked inside the counter, "hunting tip, .55 cal." He mumbled. "Ahh! Here we go .50 cal. High velocity, one mag left." he said as he put a red cartridge on the counter. Ruby put some lien down and put the cartridge in her pouch on her belt. Niko then looked back under the counter once more before coming back up.

"Sorry I don't got dust rounds pre-made, come back tomorrow and I'll have them ready."

"It's cool, oh you still have the Dust crystal cutter right?" Ricky asked.

"Yup, right in the back, need more arrow tips?"

"Yeah" Ricky put a pouch on the counter and Niko picked it up to see a white crystal and two red crystals.

"Just wait here it shouldn't take long to get these cut."

"Cool."

Niko went into the back of the shop and a machine was herd turn on. Ruby was looking at the snipers on the wall, each was a different size. Then music was herd from outside as the concert began, Ricky looked at his scroll 5:56pm. Some time past and Niko come out with three arrows that looked like Ricky's, he put them carefully on the counter and Ricky handed him some lien. Ricky then grabbed them and shrunk then to put them in his quiver.

"Thanks Niko!" Ricky called back as he and Ruby walked out.

"Anytime!" He called back.

Ruby and Ricky were walking back when they got to the outer edge of the crowd that gathered to the concert.

"Hey, you wanna stay for like one song?" Ricky asked sheepishly and he put his hand behind his head.

"Sure but we won't be that close" Ruby pointed out.

"Leave that to me" they walked around the crowd until they got to some buildings near the stage.

Ricky saw a pulley-system that had a box lifted to the roof. He stepped on the raised platform and grabbed the rope. He held his hand out to Ruby who grabbed it and stepped on. Ricky put his arm around her and said "hang on" he activated his right hidden blade and twisted his wrist so it cut the rope. The two of them shot up and landed on top of the roof. Ruby stumbled a little, but Ricky held her up.

She asked, "where did you learn to do that?"

"Well I was what you call a 'roof runner' when I left the homestead" he answered.

They moved to the other side of the roof and sat on the edge where they could see the stage and whole crowd of people gathered around.

Ruby asked "how did that work out for you at the beginning?" Then the band started to play another song it was one of the few Ricky knew. (Listen to Mountain sound to get a better picture, DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN MOUNTAIN SOUND OR OF MONSTERS AND MEN)

Ricky thought of an idea, he took his hood off and loudly said "well if I had to put it in a song it'd probably go like this!" He began to lip sing the lyrics to the song.

"I herd them calling in the distance, so I packed my things and ran."

Ruby giggled at what she was seeing and decided to go along with it.

"far away from all the trouble, I had caused with my two hands-alone we traveled armed with nothing but a shadow, we fled, far away"

Ruby Began to lip sing the main lyrics while Ricky lip sang the chorus.

Ruby: "hold your horses now" Ricky: "sleep until the sun goes down"

"Through the woods we ran" "deep into the mountain sound"

"Hold your horses now" "Sleep until the sun goes down"

"Through the woods we (both) ra-a-an-a-an-a-an"

Ricky: "some had scares and some had scratches, it made me wonder about their past, and as I looked around, I began to notice, that we were nothing like the rest."

Ruby: "hold your horses now" Ricky: "sleep until the sun goes down"

"Through the woods we ran" "deep into the mountain sound"

"Hold your horses now" "Sleep until the sun goes down"

"Through the woods we (both) ra-a-an-a-an-a-an

*they stood up at this point*

Both: "whoa-oh-oh-ohoh, we sleep until the sun goes down, whoa oh-oh-oh, we sleep until the sun goes down"

Then the slow part of the song came on. Ruby put her arms around his neck and Ricky put his around her waist as they swayed slowly.

Both: "whoa oh-oh-oh, we sleep until the sun goes down"

the song regained speed and they let go of each other and continued to lip sing.

Ruby: "hold your horses now" Ricky: "sleep until the sun goes down"

"Through the woods we ran" "deep into the mountain sound"

"Hold your horses now" "Sleep until the sun goes down"

"Through the woods we (both) ra-a-an-a-an-a-an"

"hold your horses now" "sleep until the sun goes down"

"Through the woods we ran" "deep into the mountain sound"

"Hold your horses now" "Sleep until the sun goes down"

"Through the woods we (both) ra-a-an-a-an-a-an"

Both: "la-la-la, whoa oh-oh-ohoh, la-la-la, we sleep until the sun goes down, la-la-la, whoa oh-oh-oh, la-la-la, we sleep until the sun goes"

The song ended and Ruby and Ricky were laughing on the roof top. Ricky had never enjoyed himself so much before, his life had been so serious until he met Ruby he began to act like a normal boy and not some cold blooded killer. They carefully made their way down the roof and took a ship back to beacon. It was 6:56 by the time they got back to the dorm. Before Ruby entered she turned to face Ricky and said, "We should do that again sometime."

"ok sure, I'll keep an eye out on concerts" he joked.

Ruby giggled a little "see you later" and she gave a kiss on Ricky's cheek before entering her room. Ricky stood in the hall way, what was he becoming, what makes Ruby so different? These questions filled his mind as he went to his room and laid on his bed, before he went to sleep.


	8. Faunus Revelations (Pt 1)

The next day went on as usual until after training Weiss wanted everyone to go into town for some reason. She was smiling a lot more than she usually does. The town gained more decorations after the last night. Balloons and signs were hung all around and many new faces were walking the streets. When they came to a certain part of town Weiss began to speak.

"The Vytal festival, oh this is absolutely wonderful!"

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much Weiss, it's kinda weirding me out" Ruby said.

"How could you not smile, a festival dedicated to the cultures of the world, there will be dances, parades, music, a tournament, oh the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breath taking."

Yang sighed and said "you really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring"

"Quiet you"

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?"

"uhh they smell like fish" Ruby said holding her nose, Ricky gave a slight chuckle.

Weiss then answered Yang "I've herd that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today, and as a representative of Beacon I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome then to this fine kingdom."

"She wants to spy on them so she'll have an upper hand in the tournament" Blake also seemed to answer for Weiss.

Weiss gave a short pout and said "you can't prove that."

Ricky looked down a street to see a crime scene in front of the dust shop he went with Ruby to yesterday. He pat her arm and moved his head to signal 'look' at the dust shop. "Whoa" she said and the other saw the dust shop with broken glass windows and yellow tape all around. They all walked over and saw two cops taking notes and inspecting the scene.

Ruby asked "what happened here?"

"Robbery," one of the cops taking notes said "second dust shop to be hit this week, this place is turning into a jungle" and walked over to his partner.

"uh that's terrible" Yang said.

Ricky overheard the two cops conversing:

"they left all the money again"

"naa just doesn't make a lick of sense, who needs that much dust?"

"I don't know, an army?"

"You thinking the uh, white fang?"

"Yea I don't think we get paid enough"

Everyone seemed to hear them as well, Weiss began "humph, the white fang what an awful bunch of degenerates."

"What's your problem?" Blake asked.

"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane" Weiss answered.

"The white fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths, there a collection of misguided Faunus."

"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off of the face of the planet."

"So then their very misguided, either way it doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale, hmm."

"Blake's got a point, besides the police never caught that Torchwick me and Ricky ran into a few moths ago, maybe it was him?" Ruby pointed out.

"That still doesn't change the fact that the white fang are a bunch of scum, those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

"That's not necessarily true" Yang said.

"Hey stop that Faunus!" Someone called out from the docks. They all ran back to see a blonde Faunus with a tail jump off the boat and begin to run across the docks. He jumped on a light post and hung upside down from his tail. He called back "hey a no-good stow away would have been caught, I'ma great stow away!" as he peeled a banana. Two other cops came and ordered "get down from there this instant!" he received a banana peel to the face. The Faunus then got on top of the lamp post and jump away, continuing his run. He ran across the docks, up the stairs and past team RWBY.

"Well Weiss you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes" Yang said.

"Quick we have to observe him!" she called and began to chase the Faunus.

Yang and Ruby followed behind but Blake hesitated a little.

"You okay?" Ricky asked her.

"Ya" and she began to run following the others and Ricky right behind her.

They all ran down a block and turned a corner before stopping. Weiss was on the floor with another girl, the Faunus could be seen jumping away onto of a building.

"No! He goy away!" Weiss called.

"Uh Weiss" Yang said pointing to the other girl.

Weiss got up and stepped back from the girl.

"Salutations!" she said to all of them.

"Um hello" Ruby said, "are you okay?" Yang asked.

"I'm wonderful, thank you for asking" she said still lying on the floor.

"Do you want to get up?" Ricky asked.

she thought for a moment and said "yes" and jumped to her feet causing all of them to step back.

"My name is Penny, it's a pleasure to meet you" she said.

"Hi Penny, I'm Ruby"

"Richard"

"I'm Weiss"

"Blake"

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Blake gave yang a nudge and Yang said "oh I'm Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you" Penny repeated.

"You already said that" Weiss pointed out.

"So I did."

"Well sorry for running into you" Weiss apologized and they began to walk away.

"Take care friend" Ruby called back to her.

"She was, weird" Yang said.

"Now were did that Faunus rift-raff run off to?" Weiss said.

Then Penny appeared before them and asked "what did you call me?"

Weiss was confused and surprised at how she got there while Yang said "oh I'm really sorry I defiantly didn't think you herd me."

"No not you" she walked up to Ruby "you."

Ricky activated his eagle vision but couldn't see her intentions, in fact it didn't deem like she was a person at all as she didn't glow red or blue.

"Me? I, I don't know I, what I uhh..." Ruby said confused and leaning back slightly.

"You called me friend, I'm I really your friend?" she asked.

"Uhh" Ruby looked over at the others all of them gave some sort of gesture signaling 'no.' She looked back at Penny and said "yeah sure, why not." Everyone else fell to the ground and Ricky simply put his palm on his face.

"Sensational, we can paint our nails, and try on closes, and talk about cute boys!"

"Oh is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby asked Weiss.

"No she seems far more coordinated" Weiss answered.

"So, what are you doing in vale?" Yang asked.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament" Penny answered.

"Wait, your fighting in the tournament?" Weiss questioned.

"I'm combat ready" Penny said saluting.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."

"Says the girl wearing a dress" Blake intervened.

"It's a combat skirt" she said, "yea!" Ruby said moving next to her and high-fiveing her, but down low.

"Wait a minute, if your here for the tournament does that mean you know that, monkey tailed,rapscallion?" She asked.

Ricky and Blake were tiered of hearing her refer to a Faunus as something else.

"The who?" Penny questioned.

"The filthy Faunus from the boat!"

"Why do you keep saying that!?" Blake said.

"huh?" Weiss questioned Blake.

"Stop calling him a rapscallion, stop calling him a degenerate, he's a person!"

"Oh I'm sorry would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can, or this lamp post as a lamp post?"

This angered Ricky and Blake more, but Ricky kept to himself As the two argued.

"Stop it!"

"Stop what? He clearly broke the law, give him time, he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the white fang."

Then Blake said what she and Ricky were both thinking.

"Ugh your ignorant little brat!" and Blake walked away.

"How dare you talk to me like that! I am your team mate!" and Weiss went to Blake and the two continued their argument.

Ricky stood with his hood on standing next to Ruby. "Uhh I think we should probably go" Yang said. Ricky wanted the argument to end but it went on for the rest of the day even when they got back to the dorms. Ricky simply left to his room to try and forget about that day. The next Ricky found Blake missing from the others at breakfast. He sat next to Ruby and asked "where's Blake?"

"She ran away" Weiss said without a care in the world.

"We need to look for her" Ruby said.

They spent the entire weekend looking, but to no avail. All of that weekend Ricky had to keep himself from blasting out at Weiss as she continued to complain all during the search. Sunday was the breaking point as they were walking down the street.

"I can't believe she' seen gone the whole weekend" Ruby said.

"Blake's a big girl I'm sure she can handle herself."

"Weiss come on she's one our team mates."

"Is she, we all know what she said."

"Weiss!"

"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't either way she's missing and we need to find her."

"A member of the white fang, right underneath our noses."

That was it for Ricky as he let out "can you shut up." They all stopped to face him, in his hood.

"Excuse me!?" Weiss said.

"No, all you've been doing ever since Blake left is complain and I'm sick of it, you don't even know if she is part of the white fang."

"Don't tell me your defending them too."

"I'm not defending the white fang, I'm defending Blake our team mate."

"Well I'm sorry if I have trust issues with the Faunus, if I had to live through a war between them and my family!"

"I had to go through war too and guess what my family lost, and I'm a Faunus!"

Weiss stepped back and Ricky took his hood off and continued.

"Don't believe me, many don't because I'm different, because I'm not normal, do you know just how bad it is to not only be discriminated by others, but of you own kind as well! Do you know how hard it is to go every day with someone calling you weird, different, and unnatural! Because I do! and I have ever since I was born and I thought that going home would make it okay that I could live this life perfectly fine, but then home was lost all because my mom was human, and I was alone with no one! So complain all you want about your 'daddy issues' but just know there are people who have it worse, who don't have a dad at all, who don't have a family and they are also Faunus." With that Ricky walked into an ally way and grabbed on a pulley-system, cut the rope and went off to find Blake himself.


	9. Faunus Revelations (Pt 2)

Ricky was free-running from the rooftops. He stopped every few buildings to activate his eagle vision. After some more time searching he saw his gold target and when he deactivated his eagle vision he saw Blake and another Faunus with a tail. Ricky remembered him from the docks and moved slowly above them eavesdropping on the conversation. He herd them converse about a plan they had.

"I still don't believe the white fang is behind these robberies, they've never needed that much dust before." He could hear Blake say.

"What if they did," the other Faunus began "I mean the only to prove that they didn't do it, is to go to the place where they would most likely go to if they were to do it, and not find them there, right?"

"The only thing is, I have no idea where that would be."

"Well while I was on the ship I herd some guys talking about off loading a huge shipment of dust coming in from Atlas."

"How huge?"

"Huge, big Shnee company freighter."

"Your sure?"

"Positive"

"Then we better find that shipment" Ricky said landing next to the other Faunus. He took out a bow-staff and pointed it at Ricky.

"Wait he's one of my teammates!"

The Faunus retracted his staff and put it away. Then he and Blake both looked at Ricky with his hood on.

"I guess your gona go tell the others?" Blake said.

"Not exactly, let's just say there's a divide on who trust you and who doesn't" Ricky answered. "But after this I think we both have some explaining to do" he said taking off his hood.

"Okay then the shipment is going to be on the docks tonight, we'll find out who's behind the robberies" Blake said.

"So... Are you a Faunus or Human cause that kinda looks like fur" the other Faunus said pointing at Ricky's head.

"I am a Faunus and it is fur, wolf fur" Ricky answered giving the other Faunus an annoyed look.

"alright...Sun" he replied.

"Richard, now where is that shipment exactly?" Ricky asked Sun seriously.

"Follow me" Sun answered and the three began to walk towards the docks.

* * *

They spent the afternoon into the night watching the cargo on the docks. It was quiet for the most part as all they saw was the workers off load the crates and leave them on the dock. Sun had left some time ago and came back.

"Did I miss any thing?" he asked.

"Not really, they've off loaded all the crates from the boat, now there just sitting there" Blake answered.

"Cool, I stole you some food" he said handing an apple to Blake.

"Do you always break the law without a second thought?"

"Hey weren't you in a cult or something?"

Blake gave him a look and he responded "Ok too soon."

Ricky herd a loud noise in the distance and asked "do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Sun asked. Then a strong gust was felt behind them an the noise was loader. The three of them looked up to see a VTOL hovering above with some spotlights running though where the crates where. It moved to one of the clear spaces and landed turning off both it's search lights. The door opened and a figure in a uniform walked out, he wore black pants, had a white tunic with a red symbol on the back and wore a Grimm mask.

"Oh no" Blake said.

"Is that them?" Sun asked.

The three of them could clearly see the symbol on the person's back. No doubt it was the symbol of the white fang. Others began to walk out each had a weapon.

"Yes it is" Ricky answered.

"It's them" Blake also answered.

"You really didn't think they were behind it did you?" Sun asked Blake.

"No, I think deep down I knew, I just didn't want to be right."

Ricky was holding a lot in as he clenched his fist. Then they herd some one call out "HEY what's the hold up?!" to the white fang members. It was Torchwick. He continued "we're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace."

"This isn't right," Blake began "the white fang would never work with a Human, especially not one like that." She unsheathed her sword and jumped down.

"Hey what do you think your doing?" Sun called to her as she jumped down.

Ricky stayed on the roof top with Sun and activated his eagle vision. He saw Blake move around the crates to get behind Torchwick. He was conversing with a member who had two cables in his arms. Blake got behind him with her Gambol Shroud to his neck. Ricky was to far to hear their conversation but he saw the members point their guns at Blake as she removed her bow showing her two cat ears to the members. Ricky saw as they put their weapons down. Just then two more VTOLs came and hovered around Blake and Torchwick. Then there was a loud explosion knocking Blake back. She was on the ground and Torchwick began to shoot his cane at her. She got up quickly and rolled away from the explosions, she continued to dodge back flipping away from the shots. She began to run behind some crates as Torchwick walked to follow, but a banana peel landed on his hat. Sun then jumped and landed on him and rolled away from Torchwick on the ground. He turned back and said "leave her alone." Then the hovering VTOL's doors opened and more white fang members jumped out and landed around them. "You are not the brightest banana in the bunch are ya kid?" Torchwick asked as the members charged at Sun. Before they could get close enough to attack a smoke bomb went off and every one was blinded. It cleared quickly revealing Ricky chopping into the back white fang member's neck as he was bent over. Three others were on the floor as well. Ricky moved back to back with Sun as more members charged them. Sun took out his Bow-staff and began to hit members causing them to fly back. The ones that charged Ricky had their attacks redirected as Ricky parried with his tomahawk and slashed with his sword. Sun sent one flying to Torchwick witch he dodged and retaliated by shooting Ricky, he was in the middle of a attack by two of the members, one swung downward witch Ricky dodged around the other swung from down-up, but Ricky stopped it and moved behind him as the other stabbed his allies throat and Ricky pushed him to the side with the other member's sword still piercing it and it gave him the opportunity to slash the other's throat with his tomahawk. When the blast came Sun moved in front of it and blocked it by spinning his staff. "He's mine!" Blake's called out as she jumped above Sun and began to attack Torchwick with her sheath and sword. She moved quickly using her semblance to attack from all directions, but Torchwick kept up as he blocked each attack with his cane and then jabbed Blake's side causing her to stumble and he swung upward and around each strike hitting Blake and a downward strike put her to the floor. Then Sun jumped in and transformed his staff into shotgun-nunchucks and began to attack Torchwick while using the shotguns to give speed to the swing of his nunchucks. Then he began to swing both of them with incredible speed while still firing at Torchwick. He managed to block all the shots until Blake came in and knocked him back.

He got up and shot at a crate suspended from a crane, causing it to fall above Sun and Blake. They dodged out of the way and Sun landed in front of Torchwick who had his cane pointed at him. Ricky got on top of the crate and was about to attack Torchwick. Then someone yelled out "HEY!" and they all turned to the top of a wear-house to see Ruby walk to the edge of the building and swing her scythe, sticking it in the roof. "Ruby!?" Ricky called out, "well hello red, isn't past your bed time?" Torchwick called to her. Ruby had turned away for some reason and Torchwick took his chance and shot at Ruby. "NO!" was all Ricky could call out as he saw Ruby get hit and knocked back. Torchwick began to laugh maniacally and Ricky clenched onto his weapons harder as he began to glow silver aura. Torchwick began to run away and Ricky called out "GET BACK HERE!" And gave chase via the crates. He saw Torchwick turn the corner as he pushed two members out of his way. Ricky sheathed both his weapons and while running, jumped off and activated his two hidden blades. He landed with them fully into the two members as they died instantly. He continued to chase Torchwick on foot as he was not far behind. Three more VTOLs came in and dropped off around twenty troops surrounding Ricky and stopping him from continuing his chase. He was still glowing silver as all the white fang members saw him, one walked forward and said "give it up kid, even if you were a real Faunus theres no way you could beat us." Oh he shouldn't have said that as a huge shock wave was dispersed from Ricky engulfing all the members and the VTOLs flying above as they were cut in two. They all looked in awe thinking Ricky had done it, but that was their mistake as Ricky disappeared from the center and fell down on two members taking them out with his hidden blades. They all trembled at the sight of him as he stood up now his aura seemed to be smoking off him. Two tried to attack him with swords but Ricky dodged under and cut ones leg causing him to fall the other swung horizontally and Ricky blocked with his sword and dug his tomahawk deep into his throat. He continued to walk towards the rest. They took aim, but one charged Rick who had sheathed his sword and tomahawk. He swung but Ricky used his hidden blades to block,turn him around, and he began to charge the rest as they fired into their ally. Ricky got to the line and pushed his meat shield into one to the members propelling him backwards. The two on each side swung for his head, but he ducked, activated his hidden blades, and stabbed both of them in the throat when he rose up. They fell back and another member from Ricky's left was about to strike downwards when Ricky moved back and the sword landed into the shoulder of another sneaking up on Ricky's right. Ricky then punched the left ones arm with his blade active stabbing into his arm, he then used his left fist to stab his gut and the two members fell to the ground. Then Ricky ran to the others to the left. The first took a defensive stance, but Ricky slid causing him to fall forward, Ricky jumped up and on him sticking his left blade in his neck. Another came from Ricky's right, he quickly took out his tomahawk to block the attack and it got caught on the sword. Ricky got up and moved it to his left using the sword to block another attack. The two members had their swords crossed with Ricky's tomahawk above holding them down. He quickly moved his tomahawk to the right ones neck and did the same to the left with his hidden blade. Six more surrounded him and they all tried to attack at the same time, but another smokescreen appeared and slicing and chopping was herd. When the smoke cleared Ricky was the only one stood and the last member charged him. Ricky had his sword and tomahawk out and blocked the attack and began to hack on the members neck striking it multiple times until he fell back.

He let out a wolf howl that was herd by everyone at the docks. He looked over with anger in his eyes to see Torchwick running to get into a VTOL. He turned and said "these kids just keep getting weirder." "OH NO YOU DON'T" Ricky screamed running at Torchwick, he let out a wolf snarl as he leaped to attack. Torchwick put up his cane and shot Ricky right in the chest knocking him out as he let out a wolf squeel. "Down boy" Torchwick said and flew off in the VTOL.

Ricky woke up to Ruby, Blake, Sun, and Penny for some reason, all standing around him. He leaned up and his hood came off as he grabbed his head, he had one of the biggest head aches. Ruby let out a small gasp as Ricky was rubbing.

"I'm not missing anything am I?" He asked because of her reaction.

Ruby bent down next to Ricky. He felt Ruby touch something on his head, but it wasn't his hair or head. Ricky stopped rubbing his head and his eyes widened as he moved his hand to his head and felt two furry ears on top of his head.

"My ears they...grew" he said in shock.

"I thought they wouldn't?" Ruby questioned.

"I thought so too" Ricky replied confused.

"Guess your a real Faunus now" Sun said with his arm extended towards him.

Ricky grabbed it and got up and replied "I was always a Faunus."

They all saw as cop cars come to the docks and the crime scene was quickly closed off. They had the 5 of them sit near the entrance on some boxes and Blake began to explain everything about her past and Ricky did the same. After a while Yang and Weiss came to meet up with them. Yang seemed surprise to see Ricky with ears, but Weiss just continued to walk to Blake. Ruby got up and starting talking quickly to Weiss as she continued to walk towards Blake.

"look Weiss it not what you think she explain the whole thing you see she doesn't actually wear a bow, she has kitty ears and there actually kinda cute."

Weiss continued to walk over to Blake. Blake stood up and said "Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the white fang, back when I was with-"

"Stop" Weiss interrupted "do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you and you?" She said looking at Richard who now stood up with his hood down.

"Twelve hours" she continued looking at Blake "that means I've had twelve hours tothink about this, and in that twelve hours I've decided...I don't care."

"You don't care?" Blake questioned.

"You said your not one of them anymore, right?"

"No I haven't been since I wa-"

"Abu-bu-bu-bu, I don't want to hear, all I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up, you'll come to your teammates, and not some...someone else."

Blake wiped a tear from her check and said "of course."

Weiss turned to Ricky "and, I'm, sorry if I was acting a bit...extensive, but you can talk to your team so they'll understand, and not be a literal 'lone wolf'."

Ricky gave a smile and nod to Weiss.

"Yeah team RWBY is back together!" Ruby called out. They all gathered in a circle.

"I'm still not quit sure how I feel about you" Weiss said pointing to Sun who gave a sheepish chuckle.

"Hey wait a minute, where's Penny? Ruby asked.

They all looked around and couldn't find her anywhere.

"Ohh, I hope she's alright" Ruby said. Ricky put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"We should probably get back to Beacon" Yang said.

They all walked back to the place where they could take a ship to the school and flew back and arrived at their dorms. Rbuy was next to Ricky as he comforted her because she worried about Penny. When they got back Ricky was about to enter his dorm when he got a message on his scroll. It was Ozpin 'report to my office immediately' Ricky gave a sigh and made his way to his office.

He got their to find him sitting at his desk looking out the window.

"So what did you find?" Ozpin asked.

"Roman Torchwick, he's the one behind these dust Robberies, and he's had help from the white fang." Ricky answered his hood was down and his ears were pointed up as he stood like a soldier in front of Ozpin's desk.

'Hmm' "interesting" Ozpin said "that will be all."

Ricky relaxed and was about to walk out when Ozpin spoke once more "Ricky, are you sure you don't want to hide those?"

"I've hid for ten years of my life...it's time I stop."

With that Ricky walked out of Ozpin's office and turned to his dorm to finally get some sleep.


	10. Homestead Ho!

It was cold as the moon shone. Ricky was running in the forest, but it wasn't just any, it was the same forest he trained in with Conner. The snow fell as he struggled to make his way through the cold. Howling could be herd behind him as he continued to run with his hood on, his wolf ears were gone for some reason. He ran and ran until he stopped in an opening. As he looked all around eyes were watching him. All he had was his hidden blades and nothing else. He stood alone in the dark to make his last stand. The fist came from the front and jumped at him, he activated his blades and stuck both in it's neck as it descended to the ground. The next came from behind and got on top of Ricky. He struggled to keep its mouth away from his neck. Ever so slightly did it inch closer until Ricky could feel its fangs bite deep into his neck and he let out a loud scream.

Ricky woke up gasping for air and feeling his neck as he remembered the pain he just imagined. He looked over at his clock on his desk 2:12am, it was dark in his room as he looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. It was Thursday and this dream has been haunting him since the night his ears grew. He couldn't go back to sleep after that, he got out of bed and got dressed in his usual attire. He felt his wolf ears touch the inside of his hood, he folded them to be somewhat flat so they would go unnoticed to others who saw him. He walked out of his room and carefully made his way to the roof. He sat there staring into the shattered moon. He asked himself many questions during this time. What are these dreams? Why am I feeling like this? How have my ears grown? Then someone else got on the roof, there was no doubt in Ricky's mind who it was, as she wore a red hood and cape. She had come the nights before concerned for him. It was Ruby, she walked next to Ricky and took a seat at his side.

"Did you have that dream again?" She asked, she kept her hood on to avoid the cold morning.

"Yes" Ricky answered as he continued to stare into the moon.

"It's becoming more vivid, as I clearly remember the cold feeling of the snow, the rush of running...and the pain...oh the pain" he continued as he looked down at his hand.

There was a silence before,"Want me to scratch behind your ears?" Ruby asked jokingly.

"I'd like that" Ricky said. He remembered the first night she had joined him on the roof when she had asked. It was out of curiosity as Ruby had never felt Faunus ears before, but Ricky found comfort in her touch. He took off his hood and moved forward a bit before leaning his head onto Ruby's lap. He felt her hands begin to scratch his ears, no matter how bad his dream was it couldn't compare to the feeling he got from Ruby. He looked up into space as he continued to feel his ears being scratched. Normally they would sit in silence, but there was something in the back of Ricky's mind this time as he asked "Ruby, do you remember when I told you about the homestead?"

"Yeah, you told me how it's very small and the people there as nice to each other."

"Well...would you like to see Davenport?"

Ruby stopped scratching at the sound of the questioned. She leaned over and looked Ricky in the eye.

"You would take me to your home town?"

"Why not, it's not far out of Vale and I'd like to go before classes begin."

Ruby leaned back and continued to scratch, "well...yeah I'd wanna go."

"Then we'll leave right after breakfast" Ricky said with a smile on his face. The two continued to sit in silence until about 3:00am then Ruby would subconsciously fall back to sleep. Ricky didn't mind and her hand would still lay on his ear. He meditate until about 4:30am then he'd wake Ruby up.

"Hey" he said moving Ruby's shoulder slightly. She slowly opened her eyes and the silver in them began to appear. "It's 4:30, you should head back to your room so the other don't get worried."

"Ok" Ruby got up and they walked back down to their floor. Ruby quietly entered her room and Ricky went to his as well. He took a seat at his desk. He activated his hidden blade and began to sharpen it. An hour later his blades easily cut through paper with little to no resistance. Ricky herd someone knock on his door "hey Ricky come on! I wanna get fresh pancakes." No doubt that was Yang knocking "go on ahead, I catch up later!" He called back. "Whatever" he herd. He sat in his chair for awhile before he was sure the rest of his team had left the building. Then he got up and went to the training building. He took his weapons out of his locker and sheathed them like he normally would. He made his way to the cafeteria and found his team sitting and conversing like all ways. He walked over and took a seat next to Ruby.

"So Ruby tell me your taking her to see Davenport today" Yang began.

"Thats right" Ricky answered, his hood was off.

"Any special reason why?"

"Well I wanted to go, and Ruby wanted to see Davenport."

"Alright then, but if she comes back with so much as a scratch I will not hesitate to beat you into the floor" Yang said very seriously.

Ricky kept a straight face as he sipped his tea. "She'll be fine."

"When should we go?" Ruby asked Ricky.

"Whenever your ready" Ricky replied.

"I'll go grab Crescent Rose" and with that Ruby sped out the cafeteria. Ricky gave a smile as he watched Ruby leave when he turned back Weiss and Yang were giving him a strange look. "What?" he asked, "oh nothing" Yang replied. With that he walked out of the cafeteria. He waited a little before Ruby reappeared.

"I'm ready" she said.

"Then lets go" and with that the two made their way to Vale. They walked through the city for a while until they came to the border. There was a checkpoint there with security. When they approached they asked, "ID?"

Ricky and Ruby took out their scrolls and showed the guard them.

"And where are you headed today?" The guard asked.

"Davenport homestead" Ricky replied. He received a look from the guard before he said "alright run along" and he handed back the scrolls.

They walked out of Vale and into the frontier. Their walk was short as they came upon an old stable.

"A stable?" Ruby asked.

"Horseback is the easiest way to get to Davenport since there are not tracks, streets, or landing pads."

Ricky knew the person looking after the horses.

"Hey Jack" he said to the man currently brushing one of the horses.

"Ricky? Is that you, it is you! Wow couldn't recognize you with your ears."

"Yea they just grew not long ago" Ricky said trying to show happiness.

"So heading back to Davenport?" He asked.

"Yea, how's silver?" He asked referring to his horse.

"Eh not so well, she's got a bad hoof, having her rest right now, she'll be alright" Jack answered.

"I hope"

"You can take o'll bullseye here, he'll get you there in no time" he said patting the horse.

"Thanks Jack"

Jack then turned to see Ruby.

"And who's this little girl?" He asked jokingly.

"I'm Ruby" Ruby said acting friendly.

"Nice to meet ya Ruby, Ricky taking ya to the Homestead?"

"As a matter of fact I am" Ricky said as he grabbed a saddle and handed it to Jack.

"You remember the news of me going to school, well I'm on a team, she's one of my team mates" Ricky continued.

"Well you two enjoy your selfs and try not to get eaten by Beowolves or real wolves for that matter" Jack said joking.

Ricky was on the horse pulling up Ruby when he answered "we won't, see ya Jack."

The begging was fairly mild pace as Bullseye galloped along the trail. Ruby held on to Ricky as they went along.

"I thought we'd get there in 'no time'" Ruby said.

"It's just an expression Ruby" Ricky replied.

"Can we go faster?"

Ricky smirked "Bullseye is known as one of the fastest."

"Prove it" Ruby dared.

"Don't say I didn't warn ya" and with that Ricky pulled on the reins and Bullseye began to spur along the trail at a surprising speed. Ruby began to laugh as she enjoyed the speed. They continued on the trail for a while longer.


	11. A Promise

As they made their way to Davenport Ricky was constantly checking his surroundings. Grimm activities may be low you can never be sure, also wild animals are all around. They made their way through a small passage between two rocks. Ricky slowed sown as they began to descend from the high hills and they began to see houses unlike the ones in Vale. They were wooden and hand built, there was a structure to the right of them, it was a large stone furnace. There was a small roofed area next to it with another horse inside.

"This is big Dave's forge and stable, we'll drop off Bullseye here, I'm sure he's tired" Ricky said moving into the roofed area.

"Who's 'big Dave'?" Ruby asked as she got of Bullseye.

"He's a black smith, not many people need one anymore, but here he's a big help" Ricky explained.

Ricky had his hood on and his ears folded. They continued to walk down the path into the town. Many wooden buildings could be seen as they continued to walk. They stopped on the bridge over a river as Ruby looked over the railing. She saw the lumber mill still run on the power of the river. When they got off the bridge Ricky notice a familiar face sitting on a rock writing in his note book.

"Good morning Father Timothy" Ricky called.

he looked up and had a friendly smile on his face "Good morning Richard and friend" he called back.

Ricky walked up to him and introduced Ruby.

"Father this is Ruby she is one of my team mates at Beacon" Ricky said introducing Ruby.

"Hi" Ruby said.

"Hello, it's a pleaser to meet you miss" Timothy said.

"Father do you know where Conner is?" Ricky asked.

"He should be in the manor as always."

"Thank you Father."

They continued down the path into the main part of town.

"Father?" Ruby questioned.

"Timothy is a priest in the church" Ricky said pointing at the white building in front of them. "He likes to be referred to as 'Father' for religious purposes, and every one obliges as he is the one that settles any arguements people may have" Ricky explained.

"Makes sense" Ruby said.

They continued to walk down the right side of the path before a red building appeared.

"This is the manor, it's where I lived for ten years of my life" Ricky began.

"It's pretty big" Ruby said impressed.

"Yeah" Ricky said. He was actually back here after he had left, he had too keep a promise though. They walked up the steps to the door and Ricky knocked. Foots steps wear herd from inside then the door opened. A man with a Mohawk tied back appeared before them.

"Hello mentor" Ricky said.

"Hello Richard and..."

"Ruby" Ruby said joining the conversation.

"Hello Ruby, what brings you to the homestead?"

Ricky pulled down his hood as he started to say "well, as you know I'm attending school, Ruby here is one of my team mates, she wanted to see the homestead." Ricky wasn't really telling the truth as him showing his Faunus ears gave the real reason he was here, well one of them.

"I see, please come in then" Conner said motioning the pair to enter.

"Feel free to look around, I'll be in the dinning room if you need me" Conner said as he walked off into the room to the right.

"Theres one place I think you'll like" Ricky said as he walked down the hall with Ruby. He turned right at the door way and stopped behind the stair way. He knew Conner wasn't gonna like what he was gonna do but it was to buy time. He pulled on the candle holder hanging on the wall. The wall to his right popped and Ricky pushed it to reveal a hidden passage way.

"Whoa" was what he got out of Ruby as they walked down the stairs into the secret room. They saw the room was like a training dojo as there was a dummy in the middle of the circle, as well as a work shop. Ricky motioned Ruby at a door way in the room and to her amazement the room was full of antique swords and pistols. Ricky smiled as he saw her in awe examining all the weapons there.

"Hey I'm go talk to Conner for a bit, do you mind staying down here for a while?" Ricky asked.

"Of course" Ruby replied as she put one of the flintlocks back on the rack. With that Ricky made his way up the stairs and into the dinning room. Conner was not in the best of moods as he knew what Ricky had just done.

"Your lucky I don't keep propaganda down there" he said.

"It's only to buy time" Ricky took a seat "now, why have my wolf ears grown when you said they wouldn't."

Conner sighed as he hoped this day would never come. "Wolf Faunus are not born with ears or a tail, reason being because wolfs are predators, ears grow when the Faunus finds the instinct of a wolf inside them. The way I taught you was such, that you would never have to rely on such instincts."

"Why?" Ricky questioned.

"Because with that instinct comes power, and with that power comes consequence. The reason why there aren't that many wolf Faunus, is because they don't learn to control their power. They become animals and never return to the way they were before. I didn't want that to happen to you, but it seems like I've failed."

"How can I control it?"

"You must find what drives your instinct, and come to terms with it, create peace with yourself and learn to control your emotions."

Ricky thought for a moment before he asked his next question.

"Why is Ruby unaffected by my semblance?"

Conner now took his turn to think before answering. "I can only give a legend as an answer. Long ago before the Faunus and humans lived together, my ancestors talked about the 'ones with silver eyes,' they were people given something very special by nature. Every person born with silver eyes is destined to meet his or her wolf partner. A lone wolf travels the world in search of this person. They always make it to them wether it is minutes after their birth, or an hour before their death. They cannot do harm to their partner no matter what."

"So then...Ruby...is..."

"Richard there is no doubt she will be the decider if you can control your powers or not. You will want to protect her, but your instinct is what says that, you have to decide if that is what you say as well."

Ricky thought for a bit before he got up and said "I'll be outside if she asks" and with that he walked out the back door.

He made his way to a small patch of dirt where there where five graves, two of witch Ricky knew. They read Xavier and the other Carla, they were Ricky's parents. Ricky sat in front of them and began to talk to himself.

"Hi mom, dad, I'm back like I promised, I'm sixteen now and I don't know if you've been watching me or not but as you may or may not have seen, my wolf ears grew. I know you thought they would grow when I turned ten, but they didn't. Now I'm like you dad like I've always wanted to be."

Ricky took a brief pause then continued.

"I going to school, like you always wanted me too, but it's not a school for scholars. It's a school for Hunters and Huntresses...I'm learning to fight Grimm. I know it's not what you would want, but it's something I have to do. I can't stay here forever...I have to help others like Conner has helped me... I have to go now...but I'll be back next year...I promise."

After he finished he sat there for a while staring at the graves. He felt someone's hand on him, she put her arms over his shoulder and held on trying to comfort him. Ricky didn't know he let tears fall from his eyes, as they dripped on his hands in his lap. When he did he said "let's start heading back." He felt Ruby's head move, as it was pressed to his back, in a nodding action. The two stood and went back into the manor to say their good byes to Conner.

Ricky was about to exit when Conner stopped him. He handed Ricky what appeared to be a rope-dart, an ancient weapon, and a note.

"This has been passed down to me from my mentor...I now pass it down to you...take care Richard."

With that Richard hung it on his belt and gave a simple "thank you" he then took the note and put it in his pocket, then he walked out the manor.

The ride back was quiet as they went at a mild speed back. They dropped of Bullseye at Jack's and entered Vale. By the time they got back to beacon it was 5:54pm. Ruby went to her dorm and was bombarded by questions from the rest of the team. Meanwhile in Ricky's room he took out the note Conner gave him and it had three names on it,

'Iris Len, Cyrus Len, Harper Green'


	12. The Search

The next day was Friday and Ricky was out in Vale. He kept the note Conner gave him in his pocket as he constantly checked it slowly remembering the names listed. 'Cyrus Len, who ever could you be?' Ricky wondered, he didn't know who any of the people on the list were, but he could try to find out. He walked into Niko's ammunition shop.

"Richard, how ya doing?" Niko greeted him.

"Fine Niko, how about you?" Ricky replied being polite.

"Shops doing good, I'm still in business after all. So what is it today, ammo, pouches?"

"information."

"Person, place or thing?"

"Someone by the name Cyrus Len, you herd of him?"

"Cyrus?" Niko began to scratch his head. 'Hmm' "I herd some guys from Atlas talk about a fellow named Cyrus, described him as a shadow, wears a black trench coat and he hides his face with a mask or something."

"What about a Iris Len?"

"Nope."

"Harper Green?"

"I got nothing."

Ricky put some lien on the counter, "thanks Niko" and he walked out of the shop. He walked down the street with his hood on, keeping his ears covered. He activated his eagle vision as he walked between the crowds. 'I need a better vantage point' he thought and took a turn down an alleyway. He turned left into a dead end 'perfect.' He saw a broken cart and instantly found his path up. He ran up the slanted cart and jumped to grab a bar hanging above. He pulled himself up and jumped to the window in front of him. From there he climbed up the the roof. He ran along the roof tops until he found an intersection and activated his eagle vision. He continued to look into the crowd it was a while until he found his golden target. When he deactivated his eagle vision the description Niko gave him was on spot as he wore a black trench coat.

He made his way way down as quickly as possible then hid amongst the crowd. He followed him until he took a turn into an alleyway. Ricky stood near the entrance and leaned against the wall. He waited until 'Cyrus' came out and he stood next to Ricky. He had up to his nose covered with a grey scarf of sorts, which had a black print of the assassin's symbol with a knife through it. His eyes were fixed on his scroll, as he didn't look up from it. Ricky's own scroll beeped and he checked it. He got a message from 'shadow,' 'Follow' is all it read. Ricky looked up and saw his target walking away. He instinctively moved to follow and he did until they came into another alley. Then Ricky turned the corner to see him gone. He activated his eagle vision and saw that he climbed up the wall to the roof. Ricky followed the same path and found him sitting there waiting for him.

He pulled down his scarf, "So what can a fellow Assassin do for his brother?"

Ricky took a seat across from him and took of his hood, "What are you doing in Vale?"

"The white fang brought me here, after their series of robberies in Atlas, my info tells me Vale is their base of operation."

"Your not the only one after the white fang, do you know of Harper Green, or Iris Len?"

Cyrus stood up, "What do you know about my sister?"

"Relax, I just asked a question, now, do you know if there here in Vale as well."

"She shouldn't be, she is suppose to still be training with Ezio in Vacuo."

"She may be after the white fang as well, what about Harper Green?"

"I don't know anything...not yet" Cyrus said taking out his scroll. Ricky couldn't see what he was doing so he got up and stood next to Cyrus. Before he could look over, Cyrus moved his scroll to show Ricky. It was a live video stream that showed a person in a dark green hood with leather armor walking around, next to it there was the name 'Harper Green.'

"This your guy?" Cyrus asked.

"Only one way to find out" and he was about to start a free run.

"Wait, take this" Cyrus handed Ricky an earpiece "private Chanel, we'll keep in touch."

Ricky nodded, he put the earpiece on and after he put on his hood hiding it as well as his wolf ears. With that Ricky took off and free-ran across the roof tops. After a while he stopped and looked over the edge of a building when Cyrus contantacted him.

"How's the search?"

"Nothing yet."

"Well I got news, from hacking into the terminals I got access to security cams, your target is at the docks still."

"Got it."

"Also don't worry about looking for my sister, I got that under control."

"Alright."

With that Ricky turned and ran to the docks. He made his way down and once again hid amongst the crowd. He made it to the docks, but Harper was no were to be seen. He took off his hood and walked on the docks for a while until he saw someone passed out sitting in front of some crates. This was Harper. Ricky walked over and took a good look at him. Dark green hood with kaki pants and leather armor covering his upper right arm and chest. Ricky could see his emblem on his left shoulder pad printed in white, it was the assassin's symbol covered by two shotguns in an X. Ricky kicked his foot causing him to wake up.

"Huh? Hey I'm kinda sleeping here!" He answered annoyed.

"That's no way to greet a brother" Ricky replied showing his hidden blade compartments under his gauntlets.

"So then what do you want?"

"I was told to find you, Harper"

"and?"

"and I think it's because of your mission here in Vale, your after the white fang am I correct?"

"Yeah, so what do you want with me?"

"I want you to be part of a team that is also trying to stop the white fang."

"Alright, I'll do it."

Harper got up from his seat.

"Then we shouldn't keep them waiting."

Ricky tapped the earpiece he had.

"Cyrus, you there?"

"I'm here, what is it Rick?"

"I got Harper, how are you doing with Iris?"

"I found her."

"Good well meet up on the roof tops."

"Got it."

Ricky motioned Harper to follow and the two put their hoods on and made their way through the crowds. They walked into an alleyway and climbed up to the roofs and waited. Cyrus soon arrived with a 15 year old girl that wore a brown coat that hung behind her like an Assassin's robes, she wore white pants and brown combat boots over them. On her back was something that formed an X, she had a grey hood covering her face. Cyrus also came with a dark grey hood on as well as his scarf covering his lower face.

"You must be Iris Len." Ricky began as he stood to face the girl.

"Non-other."

"Good then we're all here."

"And why is that again?"

"Because you three were sent here for a reason, that reason is to find out what the white fang are planning with all that dust."

"So how come you want us to be a team rather then let us go on our own." Harper asked.

"Because my mentor gave me your names, and I think it was to find you and work together."

"So where do we start?" Cyrus asked.

"We start by hiding in plain sight, I have a contact that can give you a disguise if you want, but there is a catch."

"What is it?" Iris asked.

"Like I have, you three will play the part of exchange students from the other three kingdoms at Beacon, it's the best I got right now."

"Can we trust this contact?" Harper asked.

"Yes, he is close to the Brotherhood, he is a reliable source."

Cyrus turned around quick and held up his right arm. A silenced gun shot was herd and a figure on a neighboring roof top fell to the ground clenching his thigh. The four of them made their way to the person to find him in the white fang uniform. Cyrus grabbed him, pulled him up and pinned him to a wall.

"Why were you spying on us!?" He began to interrogate while the other three stood back.

"Please, I'm only a scout, I don't know anything."

Ricky noticed a necklace under his uniform. He walked over and pulled out a Red Cross, the symbol of the Templars.

"What are the Templars doing with the white fang!?"

"I don't know who they are just let me go!"

Cyrus activated his hidden blade and held it up to his neck.

"Okay! Okay! There was a deal made with the Templars."

"What kind of deal!?"

"It's a-"

A gun shot came out of nowhere and the white fang member was dead. Every one turned to see a mysterious figure run away on the roof tops.

Cyrus let go and the body dropped on the ground.

"There goes our intel" He said.

"That's enough for today, we'll focus on getting your disguises then well find out who that was." With that the four of them made their way to Beacon Academy.


	13. Team RICH

"That was your old team?" Harper asked as they exited the cafeteria. Team RWBY and JNPR had just had one of the most intense food fights probably ever.

"Amazing aren't they?" Ricky asked sarcastically.

"Amazing isn't exactly the word I'd use to describe them" Cyrus replied.

"Well anyway classes start tomorrow so remember to wake up early."

"Ugh I hate school" Iris said.

"Yeah, well you won't be here long, only until the Vytal festival is over" Ricky said.

"So class tomorrow, when do we find out what's going on with the white fang and Templars?" Cyrus asked quietly so only the three others could hear.

"We'll take this week to get settled, Friday we'll try to find something after class" Ricky answered. "Until then, try to find any leads you can without getting into a fight."

"That shouldn't be a problem" Cyrus said and they all walked back to their team dorm.

Living with a team was much different than living alone. Ricky was used to the quiet of his personal guest room, but it seemed everyone else had a different way to live. Harper was a slob, no surprise seeing as he was trained by a pirate. Iris usually kept all her stuff neat and separate from the others. Cyrus didn't have much, all he had was what he wore and some sleep wear he bought. Living with them was hardly a challenge, getting them to work together was the hard part.

* * *

Tuesday, second day of the second semester. Team RICH was in one of the training rooms practicing team maneuvers. This wasn't going so well every attempt to get two of them to attack in a formation one would do all the work tiring themself out for the next maneuver. Iris was getting the hang of relying on Ricky, but Harper and Cyrus were harder to work with. Cyrus was like Ricky when he first joined team RWBY, he stayed to the side and didn't intervene much with the training unless told to do so by Ricky, even then he wasn't the most participating of people.

Ricky set up a trio of Ursi to continue with the training.

"Alright let's try this again, Harper distract!" Ricky called as the simulation began. Harper grabbed his double barrel shogun from his back and shot multiple rounds at the three Ursi. Ricky and Iris made their way around and got behind them. Ricky saw the three move closer to Harper, who kept shooting despite the ineffectiveness of his shots. Ricky gave a hand motion to Iris and she took out two boomerangs from her back and they grew a little and the edges sharpened. She threw one towards one the Ursi and hit it in the head, when it turned around it stood to give a roar, but was met with three arrows in its stomach, they all exploded and the Ursa fell back with a hollow belly and disintegrated. Ricky looked over to Cyrus and gave him a hand motion. Cyrus moved from his spot and ran up the back of one of the two Ursi and stuck his blade in its neck. The blade wasn't long enough to make a killing blow so the Ursa began to swing around frantically as Cyrus struggled to hang on. Meanwhile Harper was still faced with another Ursa, he flicked his shotgun and a blade appeared all along between the twin barrels. He blocked a swing from the left and had to push with all his might. The Ursa was gona swing from his right to try and squish him, but Ricky moved in time to block with his sword, now in his right hand, and slashed upward with his tomahawk causing the Ursa to stumble back. Cyrus began to shoot his gun compartment of the hidden blade while it was still stuck in the Ursa's neck. It only angered it more as it furiously threw Cyrus off. He landed next to Iris and the two stood before the monster.

"Alright Cyrus see if you-"

Iris was cut off as Cyrus once again charged the Ursa. It swung at him but he jumped over and managed to dodge the attack. He got close enough to once again clim. On it's back and this time he switch his right blade to it's dagger form and blinded the Ursa's right eye. Ricky and Harper kept their attacks strong on the Ursa as they didn't give it any chance to strike back. Harper rolled over Ricky's back and swung his sword in a figure eight pattern and Ricky moved in front of him striking upward knocking the Ursa's head back and Harper moved with two hands on his shotgun-sword swung and in one clean swipe cut the Ursa's head off. Cyrus stayed on the Ursa until a boomerang flew past and the Ursa stopped and fell forward. Cyrus took his blade out as the Ursa disintegrated.

"Alright, I think that's good for today" Ricky said to the group. Cyrus walked out first and didn't talk to anyone as he exited the training room.

'Was I that bad?' Ricky asked himself as he remembered his first training sessions with team RWBY.

Later in the dorm Cyrus stayed silent and was on his scroll, Harper slept almost all the time, Iris was the only one Ricky saw do actual studying for classes. He sat in a chair in front of a desk as he looked at his team. He got up and was walking out the door when Cyrus asked "And where are you going?"

"Out, you know, were there's fresh air" Ricky replied.

Cyrus didn't look up from his scroll, but his facial expression changed as he herd the responds. Ricky walked out and closed the door behind him. It was still pretty early for sleep and he couldn't stay long in a room with other people. He went the recreational center and sat in the shade of a tree. He slouched against the bark and with his hood on he began to meditate. Before he could focus his mind, a figure appeared before him. It was non other than Ruby who moved to sit next to him and Ricky took off his hood as she did so.

"So how's your team?" She asked.

"There...okay."

"That doesn't sound like they're okay."

"They'll come around it's only the second day after all, but it seems I'm running into a similar problem you did when I was assigned to your team."

"So...who's the lone wolf?"

*Sigh* "Cyrus if I had to say, but they don't exactly work well together, individually they can handle themselves, but trying to work as a team is a challenge for them."

"Well maybe if you got to know them better it would help."

'Hmm' Ricky thought make it seem like a good idea to Ruby, but really they all knew what happened to each of them that caused them to join the assassin's.

"Well...at least try and maybe they won't seem so bad." With that Ruby stood up and walked back to her dorm. Ricky sat there and began his meditation. He got back to his dorm by sun down and everyone slept for the night.

At 2:00am Ricky woke up as usual, but he kept quite as he just opened his eyes and sat up in his bed. He looked around to see his team still sleeping. He got up and quietly got dresses. He went to the roof as usual and once again was with Ruby as she, again, scratched behind his ears to sooth him. It was quite the whole time and when they returned to their dorms Ricky was about to walk back after Ruby entered hers, but was met with Cyrus in the hallways.

"You know what happens if she finds out" He quietly said to Ricky.

"Then I'll make sure she won't."

"From what I've seen I'm surprised she doesn't know already."

"Listen, we all keep quiet and no one finds out."

"If you say so...I got something on the white fang."

"What is it?"

"Recruitment meeting going on this Friday in Vale."

"We might find out exactly what this 'deal' with the white fang the templars have made."

"We infiltrate and get info, that's all."

"Agreed, crashing their party would just alert the Templars of our search."

"So then now we wait."

Ricky nodded and they both entered the dorm and neither went back to sleep as Cyrus stayed on his scroll and Ricky as quietly as he could sharpened his hidden blades.


	14. Mission code name: Wolf ears (Pt 1)

On Thursday Ricky looked into his closet. The bag from first semester was there, hidden the way it was when he put it in his personal closet before he met his new team. He grabbed the bag and put it on his bed. The only other person in the room currently was Harper, who was sleeping. He unzipped the bag and pulled out the robes that where similar to that of his mentor's. He noticed something about the hood. There were two patches that were sown into the top of it, like if they were to allow a pair of ears to pop out. Ricky grabbed a pair of scissors and cut one by one the sowing on the patches. Once the first one was off, Ricky could see that the holes were intended in the design as sewing was around the holes in the hood. He cut the sowing of the other patch and in between the two pieces used to cover the hole was a note. Ricky unfolded it to reveal a full piece of paper with writing on it. It was addressed to Ricky and read:

"Richard if you are reading this then I am most likely not with you anymore. I always hoped that we all could live a normal life, me, your mother, you. Now its time I explain some things. I was an Assassin, a group that killed people who wanted to control everything and rule over everyone. I left that life when I met your mother, I hung up this very set of robes to be with her and to have a family. But I know if my past does follow me than I won't be with you. You must know the truth which is why I have written this note and hidden it in my robes. It is most likely that Conner has taken care of you if I have indeed passed away; he was a friend of mine. Also your ears must have grown for you to find this note, I'm sorry for lying about them after every day that you came home with a bruise or tears in your eyes. I just wanted to talk to you one more time and let you know that even if I'm not there by your side, I will try to watch over you from where ever I ended up. Stay strong Richard. -Xavier Wulf, Dad"

Ricky stared at the paper, his father was an Assassin, and it was another thing Conner had kept from him. Now Ricky knew why his parents were killed, not only for his parent's heritage, but also for his fathers past. He folded the paper back up and put it in the bag. He hung the robes on a hook on the door and went to shower. When he came back Harper had woken up and Cyrus and Iris were there in the room, it seemed like they had just bought some new cloths. Ricky saw Cyrus with a crimson dark trench coat and Iris had a pair of black pants and a light brown coat folded on her bed. Ricky walked over to the robes still hanging and moved them to hang in the closet.

"Now" Cyrus started, "let's go over what's happening tomorrow."

He pulled out a small brief case from under his bed and opened it. Inside were four earpieces along with some black boxes.

"Each of you gets one set" they all grabbed one earpiece and a box.

"Black box hangs on your belt, plug the earpiece in it" they all did so.

"This is how we will communicate with each other."

Ricky closed the blinds on the window and locked the door.

"We know the White Fang are with the Templars in some way" Ricky said.

"But we don't know what kind of deal they have" Cyrus joined in.

"This is why tomorrow afternoon we head into Vale and find where they are having their recruitment meeting."

"We stay quiet, any one sees us and they'll know we're on to them."

"And that would make things harder for us, understand?"

Harper and Iris nodded.

"Good."

Cyrus opened up the blinds to let sunlight in the room. Ricky began to once again sharpen his blades until night fell and they all got some sleep.

* * *

Friday, tonight was their first mission as a team. Classes passed and Ricky headed back to his team's room. Cyrus had his new dark crimson coat on along with a simple black cap. Iris also had her new coat and pants on. Harper was cleaning his shotgun. Ricky walked over to the closet and took down his father's robes before heading into the bathroom to change. He came out dressed in the robes, although similar to Conner's they were dark brown mostly with white accents and a white hood (basically the Baltimore outfit from AC 3). He pulled up his hood and his ears stuck out of the holes perfectly. He pulled it back down and as soon as they all seemed ready they made their way out of Beacon and headed into Vale.

The search took up most of the afternoon as the white fang hideout was well hidden. Luckily they followed some Faunus recruits to the entrance of the place. They fanned out and searched for any sort of back door and they found one.

"Ricky you got a visual?" Cyrus asked over the comms.

"Yeah, two guards in front of the door." Ricky could see them both armed with rifles. "Iris, Harper, get the drop on them."

Harper and Iris both landed on the guards and as soon as they were dead they began to move the bodies.

"Good work, I'm moving in, stay near and stay hidden."

"Roger that" Harper responded and the two disappeared once more.

Ricky moved down from the roof he was on and slowly made his way to the door. He moved his head closer to the door, trying to hear with his wolf ears was better than with his human ears. No sound came from the other side so he began to pick the lock on the door. Once it was open he slowly moved in, staying in a crouched position. He leaned under a window to another room. Inside where two more guards taking inventory on a large set of weapons and dust. He passed them quietly and snuck into the main room. He was behind what seemed to be a stage. He kept in the shadows and climbed on some crates to get to the rafters above. Once there the shadows hid him perfectly and he could see the entire room.

"Cyrus, I'm in" he whispered in his comms.

"Good, now give me a visual."

Ricky reached in one of his pouches and took out a device that he put on like glasses, but there was a small screen in front of his right eye. He tapped the side and turned it on.

"Perfect" Cyrus said.

"And just in time" Ricky responded as the meeting began.

The room was filled with about a third of new recruits, the rest were already members. A member, presumably a high ranked one, was on the stage and began to talk.

"Thank you all for coming, for those of you joining us for the first time tonight allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours, I can assure you he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for, for so long!"

A familiar face came on stage as the crowd boo'd him.

"Torchwick" Ricky said unconsciously.

"You know him?"

"Ran into him a few months ago, let's just say we have a score to settle."

"Calm down Ricky and remember the mission."

Ricky stayed silent as he continued to watch the ceremony. Torchwick seemed to get the crowd to agree with him as he kept talking until he snapped his fingers and the huge banner with the white fang symbol fell, revealing a large mech robot.

"That's not good" Ricky said.

"That's not possible," Cyrus began "that's an Elysium Paladin, those things aren't suppose to even be shipped yet, let alone be stolen by some thugs."

"You know what that means."

"There's a supplier in the Elysium military or the Shnee dust company."

"Possibly both."

"Hang on, I'll get what I can from the visual just keep eye sight on it."

Ricky did so and also noticed the recruits were being moved further into the compound. He also noticed Torchwick look at something and throw his cigar on the ground.

"That can't be good."

"What is it?" Cyrus asked.

"Torchwick just saw something he doesn't like and-"

Ricky was cut off by the sound of a gun shot and the lights all going out. There was screaming and orders being yelled to get someone. Powering up could be heard and Ricky made his way to the window to escape, and he wasn't the only one.


	15. Mission code name: Wolf ears (Pt 2)

Ricky went smashing through a window and two other people were with him. It was Blake and Sun they where at the meeting for some reason.

"Who the heck are you!?" Sun asked. Then the mech from inside came smashing out the wall and chased them.

"Doesn't matter just run!" Ricky called out.

The three of them managed to jump to the rooftops and keep running while the mech followed them on the streets.

"So you wouldn't happen to have, oh I don't know, some form of backup!?" Sun asked between his jumps.

"On it!" Blake called back.

"Ricky what happened?" Cyrus asked over comms.

"Currently being chased by Torchwick, he's in the Paladin, Harper, Iris move to Cyrus's location and stay hidden!"

Harper got on the comms, "Ricky three more Paladins just came out of the warehouse and are heading your way."

"Try to divert their course for as long as possible then!"

Ricky, Blake, and Sun jumped from the roof onto a highway. They all landed on different cars and jumped from one to another. They looked back to see Torchwick follow them, pushing away any cars in his way. They continued jumping until they stopped to see Neptune with his trident stuck in the Paladin.

"Neptune, hang on!" Sun said and he put his hands together. Two hologram like figures appeared and charged the Paladin. Both attacked and instantly disappeared once they came into contact with it. Sun jumped up and was about to strike with his Bo-staff when Neptune was shaken off and collided with Sun in midair. They two went flying over the highway barrier. Ricky heard someone call out, "Blake I'm in position!" Weiss came down from the higher bridge and took a stance in the middle of the road. With one move she froze the ground around her and when the Paladin came close it slipped and slid breaking the barrier and coming off the highway. Blake jumped down to the ground to fight while Ricky stayed on the edge to look down. Team RWBY was all there facing the Paladin.

Ricky was about to jump down to join when Iris got on the comms. "Ricky watch your back one Paladin went after you, we're try to distract the other two."

Ricky looked back down the street to see another Paladin making its way to him. He unsheathed his bow and took out a white tipped arrow. He aimed for the foot of the mech and shot his arrow. Direct hit, as the Paladin stopped in its tracks with a frozen foot. Ricky jumped back on to the cars and kept moving towards the stuck Paladin. It noticed and shot a large barrage of missiles. Moving quickly Ricky dodged, jumping from car to car until he jumped over the Paladin. With his sword he slashed the top, but it had little to no effect. He transformed it back into his bow and drew a green tipped arrow. He shot and it sent the Paladin flying down the street. He quickly took out a yellow tipped arrow and shot as well. Once it made contact sparks could be seen around the Paladin. Then Cyrus, Iris, and Harper appeared by his side.

"And the others?" He asked them.

"We don't think they know where we, or you are" Iris answered.

"Think?"

"Enough let's focus on one problem at a time" Cyrus said. They all readied their weapons. The Paladin stood back up and once again charged them. Once it came close a large cloud of smoke appeared and Ricky and his team were lost in the smoke. No where to be seen the Paladin rotated in a circle. A boomerang from behind got its attention as it turned around. Then Harper came from behind and slashed downward with his sword. The Paladin turned and stomped, but Harper wasn't there. Ricky and Cyrus came flying in and sliced the Paladin at full speed, but all that got them was a knock back. Then another green tipped arrow came out and the Paladin was sent flying off the highway and down bellow all the bridges.

It landed in front of team RWBY who were just about to leave. Ricky and the others landed by their side ready to face the Paladin once more.

"Who are you?" Weiss asked.

"Just be ready to fight" Harper replied.

They all reloaded and were about to fight when Yang said. "Could be worse."

Then two other Paladins landed next to the original one.

"You had to jinx it" Cyrus said.

"It can't get any worse."

Then a large group of white fang infantry landed surrounding them all.

"It just did" Ricky said.

A member called out and said "Surender now and maybe we'll let you live."

"Yeah right" Ruby said.

"Do as he says" Cyrus told them. They were all in a circle back to back.

"You must be out of your mind" Weiss said.

"Just do it!" Ricky said activating his semblance. They all put down their weapons even Yang took off her gauntlets. Ruby was the last to put down Crescent Rose. They all put their hands up and members slowly moved in.

"I hope you have a plan" Ricky whispered to Cyrus.

"Wait for it" he replied. The members were getting closer.

"Wait for it" he said again. The members were now almost within arms distance of them.

"Now!"

* * *

"Now!" one of the hooded guys screamed and Ruby found herself surrounded by smoke. She could hear large explosions and slashing all around her. She kept her hand on her mouth as she tried not to breath in the smoke. Then she felt a sharp pain in her left arm. She looked and saw a dart in it. She took it out and began to feel drowsy. After a few seconds she passed out on the floor.

She woke up on a roof top to the sound of arguing. She kept her eyes closed and could hear two people in an argument.

"I can't believe you called in more assassins!"

"You had a better plan!?"

"You put their lives at risk!"

"They handled the situation better than we could've!"

Ruby slightly opened her eyes, just enough to let her see but little enough to give the impression she was still asleep. She saw two hooded figures the same ones that appeared before the smoke arose. One had wolf ears sticking out of his hood the other had his mouth covered with something. They continued to argue.

"Your just mad cause you couldn't protect your little 'girlfriend'."

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"Then what is she!?"

"Stop fighting, both of you!" Another person called out. A figure got in between them and pushed them away from each other.

"You sound like a bunch of kids fighting" she continued. They both stood in silence staring at each other.

"Now let's come up with an explanation and tell them before they start asking questions" she said again.

"Just go along with what I say, they'll buy it" The one covering his mouth said as he pulled down his hood. It was Cyrus from Ricky's team. The girl also pulled down her hood, she was Iris. Another hooded figure went next to them. He pulled down his hood, he was Harper. Finally the one with wolf ears took of his hood and it was Ricky.

'Whats going on?' Ruby wondered still pretending to be asleep. 'Assassins?' she questioned in her head. She heard her sister Yang wake up.

"Ugh, where am I?"

"Safe." Harper had woken her up.

Ruby saw Ricky approach and closed her eyes completely. She felt a hand on her shoulder and a small shake. She slowly opened her eyes to see Ricky's face, "You okay?" He asked.

"Ricky, wha, what are you doing here, where is here?" She asked acting innocent.

"We managed to pull you away from the fight in the smoke that appeared, Cyrus any ideas on what that was?"

"Non" Cyrus answered while waking up Blake.

"What where you guy doing?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah?" Yang also got in on the question.

"Tell you the truth, me and Iris have been after the white fang for a long time, it's what lead us here to their meeting." Cyrus answered.

"We've been trying to find out what all those robberies are for and why so much dust is needed."

"Why?" Weiss asked. Ruby kept quiet as she was still sitting with Ricky kneeling in front of her.

"Because our father went missing during his investigation, we want to know why."

"Seems like everyone's after the white fang these days" Ricky said.

"With the damaged they've caused I'm not surprised" Blake replied.

"Why where you guys at the meeting?" Iris asked.

"Same as you, find out what the white fang are planning" Yang answered.

"Wait so were you the people in those hoods?" Weiss asked.

Cyrus nodded and they all stood up. "Keep ourselves hidden and they don't know who's after them" Ricky gave a reason.

"It's been a long night let's head back" Harper said they all agreed and began to make their way back. Ruby kept wondering what they were talking about. She knew Cyrus's story was a lie form what she heard, but now wouldn't be the best time to point that out. Was Ricky hiding something again or was this Cyrus's secret he dragged the rest of the team into like Blake had done. Asking May give her some answers, the only thing is when does she ask?


	16. Secrets Can't be Kept

Ruby kept what she saw and heard to herself. She didn't want to tell anyone until she knew exactly what happened that night. Getting to ask questions was hard though. Ricky was always with the rest of his team discussing various things and most of the time they weren't at beacon at all. She wasn't one to give up though. She tried to think of a way to get to ask Ricky her questions. Maybe if she got close to him again, no that wouldn't be right just getting close to a friend for personal gain. But would it be just for her questions, she did enjoy when they spent time together. She went to the roof that night and sat looking into the sky. Ricky stopped coming to the roof soon after he got his team. She sat alone on the roof pondering what she should do.

* * *

He can't tell her. Ricky thought as he saw Ruby alone on the roof. He was hidden in a nearby tree. No matter how much he wanted to approach her, his work as an assassin came first, at least thats how he was raised. But leaving Ruby, she was like a partner and now they don't even talk to each other anymore. Maybe just one more time, to spend at least one night with her. That was possible and his team didn't have to know his plans. He just wanted to talk to Ruby at least, one more time.

* * *

The next day classes were scheduled regularly. Ruby had combat with Ricky in her class, but they never talked to each other. He sat with the rest of his team who where also in the class. Only when they sparred against each other some words were exchanged, but other than that they didn't speak to one another.

Professor Goodwitch was on her scroll checking for the next match. She looked up at the class and announced. "Richard Kenway and Ruby Rose are the next combatants."

Ruby was slightly surprised as she wasn't expecting to go against Ricky. They both went to the area and readied their weapons. Ruby took out her Crescent Rose and stuck into the ground facing Ricky who had his white hoodie on, he drew his bow and had an arrow ready to fire.

"Begin!" Goodwitch announced.

Ruby instantly began to fire Crescent Rose. Ricky moved out of the line of fire and began running towards Ruby. She responded by pulling out Crescent Rose and firing in his direction. Ricky slid under the barrage of bullets and fired his arrow at Ruby. She quickly pointed down and shot using the recoil to dodge the incoming arrow. It exploded in the ground and the debris flew towards her. She covered he face with her arms and looked up to see Ricky gone. She turned around and held up Crescent Rose to block Ricky's sneak attack. He swung with his sword but Ruby managed to block each attack. She got a parry on him and swung Crescent Rose causing him to slid back. Ricky kneed down and held on his stomach. He looked to see Ruby about to strike so he rolled to the right and saw Ruby stick her Crescent Rose into the ground next to him. She pulled it out quickly and swung low towards him. He managed to jump over it and roll away. He transformed his tomahawk into a pistol and shot at Ruby. She swung Crescent Rose in a circle deflecting the shots. He sheathed his bow and drew his second pistol. He kept it behind him and held onto the trigger. Ruby rushed him and swung, he blocked it and locked his tomahawk. He moved his pistol from his back to Ruby's side. The magazine on it was fully lit up and Ricky kept holding the trigger. He just grit his teeth as he held the pistol there. He couldn't let go and fire no matter what. Ruby took advantage and kneed the gun away, it shot into the wall and a huge explosion appeared where the shot landed. She then kicked Ricky back, releasing her Crescent Rose. Ricky drew his bow and transformed it into a sword, dual wielding with his tomahawk. They both charged each other and clashed their weapons in a stalemate. Ricky kneed upward knocking Crescent Rose in the air. He them kicked Ruby back so she couldn't get it. She moved back and saw Crescent Rose land on the ground. Ricky stepped over it and knocked it back, it slid farther back out of Ruby's reach. He sheathed his tomahawk and sword and held up his fists. Ruby used her speed an quickly threw some punches at Ricky. He managed to dodge left and right no matter how fast she was going. She threw another punch with her her right fist and Ricky caught it and moved behind her putting her arm behind her back. She kicked backwards causing Ricky to let her go. She made a break for it and ran to her Crescent Rose. Ricky drew his bow and took out a green tipped arrow. He shot and the arrow landed just in front of Ruby. The effect of the arrow knocked Ruby back and she slid back to where Ricky stood. He kneed down and held his sword over her, signaling her defeat.

"Another victory for Richard, you two are tied with 5 wins and losses against each other" Proffesor Goodwitch said.

Ricky changed his sword back into a bow and sheathed it on his back. Then he put his arm towards Ruby. She grabbed it and he pulled her up.

"Thanks" was all Ruby said and she went to go pick up her Crescent Rose. After they both returned to their seats in the raised area of the arena. After class Yang went back to the dorm and Weiss went to the library with Blake. Ruby didn't have anything to do so she walked slowly. She kept thinking about that night when they fought the Paladin. She was surprised to find Ricky walking next to her without his team.

"Hey" he said to get her attention.

She looked over surprised to see him, "Oh, hey" she replied.

"Listen, I know we haven't talked that much lately, but uh I was, wondering, would you like to do something this weekend? Together, without the rest of our teams."

The question shocked Ruby and caused a little confusion as what she should reply.

"Uh, sure" was all she was able to get out still thinking of what to do in this situation. Was this a date? Or did he really just want to talk.

"Great, there's this cafe I think you'll like"

"Ok."

"So this weekend, see you then."

"See ya," she replied and watch him walk off to the recreational center. Maybe this was the chance she could get, it would be just them without anyone else. She just hoped Ricky would give her answers.

* * *

Saturday, Ruby was gona get answers no matter what. She changed into her normal skirt and put Cresent Rose on her back. She tightened her cuffs and walked out the door saying, "I'm going to get some stuff in Vale, won't take long" to Weiss and yang in the room. She walked out and closed the door behind her.

Ricky put on his normal hoodie and was sleeping as usual. He only had his belt with his two pistols, he left his bow and quiver. He also had his hidden blades under his sleeves just in case. Cyrus asked, "Any reason your going out?" Ricky replied with "I need to get some more dust rounds for my pistols, won't take long." Ricky walked out the room and closed the door.

Ruby saw Ricky walk out and when he saw her he gave a little smile. They stayed quiet while they walked out of the dorm building. They didn't want their teams to know what they were doing. They took a transport into vale. Ricky lead her to a small bakery cafe. The walked in to see not many people there.

"What do you want to drink?" Ricky asked her.

"Tea, hot tea" she answered.

"Alright, go grab a seat, I'll order right now" Ricky said walking to the counter. Ruby saw an empty Booth near the corner and went to sit. Ricky came with a cup of tea in one hand and in the other he balance another cup on top of a white box. He set the tea in front of Ruby and put the box on the table, taking the cup off the box. He opened it and slid it towards Ruby. Inside where fresh baked cookies. Ruby couldn't help but smile and this lead to Ricky smiling. They talked for awhile until Ruby finished the pack of cookies. in the time they talked she had forgotten about the fact Ricky is potentially an 'Assassin.' They walked out and where about to make their way back when Ruby had mentioned Blake's unending search which reminded her. They continued to talk as they walked back.

"Blake's been slowly sleeping less and less, she spends most of her time looking in to the white fang." Ruby said.

"I don't blame her, an organization that large stealing so much dust, makes me wonder what their planning." Ricky replied.

"I wonder, maybe it's not just them."

"What do you mean?"

"What if there was another group with them, using the white fang as a decoy."

"Hmm, the thing is I don't know any other organizations that could be helping them."

"I herd of this group called the 'Assassins'." Ricky kept a straight face at the mention of them. "You heard of them?"

"Heard, not much else."

"Really? What do you know about them."

"Well, from what heard they don't even exist."

"Hmm, I think they are still around." Ruby made fake assumptions to see what Ricky's reaction would be. He still kept a straight face.

"You've seen them?"

"From what I know," Ruby moved in front of Ricky. She slowly put on Ricky's hood and said, "they hide their faces with hoods like you and your team."

Ricky took off his hood and he showed the same expression. "Well, I guess they're pretty smart for doing that." They continued to walk.

"What if they were around, would they be with the white fang?"

"I don't know, listen let's change the subject."

"Why?"

"It's just I don't-"

"Hmm, Ricky you told me everything about you, your not hiding anything else, are you?"

*sigh* "it's just not a topic I'm found about."

"Why?"

"It just isn't."

Ruby go in front of Ricky again, no more playing around. "Ricky what did Cyrus mean when you said he called in _more _assassins?"**  
**

"What are you talking about?"

"The night we fought the Paladin, and those guys showed up out of nowhere, I heard you arguing with Cyrus."

"Ruby," Ricky put his hands on her shoulders. He whispered into her ear, "This isn't something to talk about in public, just wait, I'll give you answers soon." He moved back "now let's get back to beacon."

They walked back and took a ship into beacon. They walked in silence until they came to the dorms. Before they turned the corner Ricky stopped Ruby and said, "remember when I had those nightmares?" Ruby nodded. "Well I might have one tonight, and I think you know what that means." Ruby nodded once again. They returned to their dorms.

2:00am, Ruby was on the roof waiting. She thought Ricky had meant to meet her here. He did show up with his hood on he walked to the corner of the roof where Ruby was at. He looked around a bit before he sat down. Ruby sat in front of him.

"I promised you answers, but promise me you won't tell anybody that you know this."

Ruby nodded with a serious expression.

*sigh* "I'll start from the beginning guess, ever since the foundation of the the first kingdom there where two groups of people that fought each other, the Templars and the Assassins..."


	17. Ruby's Gift

"...that day Ozpin found me and wanted me to be a hunter and attend beacon." Ricky finally had explained what the Assassins and Templars were to Ruby. Ruby had stayed silent the entire time listening to what Ricky was saying. There was no way he was making this up, with so many details and the fact that Ricky knew his history on most things, this had to be real for him to know so much.

"And so I did..." Ricky continued. "It's one of the reasons I stay away from most people."

Ruby sat in silence, she remembered when she had asked Ricky to sit with the rest of the team. She also remembered when Ricky referred to himself as a 'Roof-Runner' the night they where at the concert. What he had really meant was an Assassin.

"Ruby, I've kept my promise and have given you answers" Ricky put his hand on top of Ruby's. "Now I need you to promise not to tell anyone what I've told you."

Ruby held his hand and nodded.

"And I mean it, you can't tell your team, family, not even Ozpin can know about this."

Ruby nodded and said, "I promise." Promises were something Ruby took seriously, she still hadn't told anyone about Penny being a robot. She was going to keep that promise and this one.

"One more thing," Ricky moved his hand back and pulled up his right sleeve to his elbow. Around his wrist was a gauntlet of some sort, and from what Ruby knew, on it was the symbol of the assassins.

"This is a hidden blade, it's the trademark weapon of the Assassins," he said starting to undo the buckles on it. "As I've told you I an Assassin rank member in the creed, so I am allowed to recruit new members." He took off the hidden blade. "I'm not recruiting you, but if anything happens and I'm not there, I want you to have this." He handed the gauntlet to Ruby who slowly moved both her hand to hold it. "Where it under your sleeve and keep it hidden unless you run into trouble with the creed, if they ask just say I recruited you." Ruby looked at the hidden blade, she had never seen a weapon like this before. She had trouble understanding how it worked.

"Here I'll show you how to put it on." Ricky said grabbing Ruby's right hand and moving her sleeve up. "May I?" he asked, his left hand out and his right one holding on to Ruby's wrist. She handed him the gauntlet. He put it around her forearm and turned it over to tighten the buckles. Ricky moved into a kneeing position as he tighten the straps to fit Ruby's arm. He pulled down Ruby's sleeve saying "there that'll do." When he moved his head back up he was much closer to Ruby now. He could see her silver eyes under her hood and she could probably see the same. They stayed like that for a while staring into each other's eyes. Ricky still had his hand on Ruby's and they stayed like that the entire time. Both of them had feelings for each other but neither of them really admitted it. Ricky moved a little closer to Ruby and she did the same. They slowly moved until their lips touched and a small kiss was exchanged. It didn't last very long as both of them moved back after contact. Ruby was blushing a little. Ricky, still holding on to Ruby's hand, stood up with her. They both made their way back to their dorms.

Ruby entered hers with her team still sleeping. She slouched in the chair at one of the desk. She rolled up her sleeve and began to mess around with the hidden blade. It's design intrigued her. She didn't know how to use it, there where no triggers or anything that could be used to activated anything. She grabbed onto a ring that was hanging on it and pulled it, when she did a blade popped out from the palm end of the gauntlet. The blade was in pristine condition and almost shined in the darkness of her room. She touched the metal with her left index finger. She could feel it cold and sharp. She moved her finger to the left and the blade swiveled to follow. She kept moving it down until it bent at a ninety-degree angle. She let go and the blade swung back straight, she pulled the wire once more and the blade retracted back into the gauntlet. It scared her a bit but it made little to no noise at all. She put the ring on one of her right fingers and flicked her wrist, once again the blade popped out. This time she used her right hand to swivel the blade and hold it like a dagger. She let go and flicked her wrist, it once again retracted back into the bracer. She rolled her sleeve back down and sat back in the chair, she looked over at the clock 4:03am. She let out a small yawn and closed her eyes to sleep some more.

Morning came and Ruby and her team went to go get breakfast at the cafeteria. She was still a little tired so she stayed quiet while team JNPR talked with Weiss and Yang, Blake was quiet as well.

"Hey" someone asked out and Ruby turned and was surprised to see Ricky with two cups in his hands.

"Mind if I sit here?" he asked.

"Sure" Ruby answered still half asleep.

"Tired?" Ricky asked as her sat down next to her.

She nodded. Ricky set one of the cups in front of her, "Hot tea, just how you like it."

"Thanks" she replied and took a sip of the tea. Being at the edge of the table no one really noticed Ricky sit down until after the fact.

"Hey haven't heard from you in a while what's up, where's your team?" Yang asked when she saw Ricky.

"Not much, Cyrus and Iris went into town and Harper is still sleeping" He answered.

Ruby was slowly falling back to sleep as she began to lean and actually rested her head on Ricky's shoulder before popping back up right after contact. She blushed a little and said "sorry, I'm still kinda sleepy."

"It's fine...I know a quiet spot in the recreational center if you'd want to go."

"Yeah that'd be nice" she replied.

They both looked to see Yang with a big smile on her face.

"You okay sis?" Ruby asked while Ricky took a sip of his tea.

"I'm just happy to see you two together again."

Ruby blushed a little and Ricky nearly spit his tea but instead swallowed and let out some coughs.

"Yang, we're not together, together" Ruby said still blushing. Ricky cleared his throat and once again sipped his tea.

"Even I have to admit you two are a cute couple" Weiss said entering the conversation. Ruby's blush grew darker and Ricky once again almost spit his tea but instead coughed again.

"Weiss!" Ruby let out a small shriek.

"You want to go now?" Ricky asked Ruby.

"Yes, yes please," Ruby said before she disappeared into rose petals. Ricky got up and headed to the exit of the cafeteria. He found Ruby sitting at the steps of the front sitting with her hood on. Ricky went and sat next to her.

"Sorry for disappearing like that" she said.

"Its fine, I'm guessing this the first time then?"

"What do you mean?"

"The first time Yang has seen you with a boy." Ricky couldn't see but he could tell Ruby blushed a little.

"Yeah, at Signal I never really talked to anyone else but Yang."

"I understand, I remember seeing you the day new students arrived, needless to say you had trouble finding friends."

"Thanks" Ruby said sarcastically.

"But look where you are now, your the leader of a team and probably have more friends than you would've made a Signal, and you even taught me to open up more, I mean, if it weren't for you I'd probably be in a tree meditating right now."

Ricky stood up and put his arm out to Ruby who looked up. She grabbed his hand and stood up.

"Now take off that hood, who are you me?" Ricky joked. Ruby pulled down her hood and Ricky could see her with a smile on her face. They walked to the recreational center where there were not that many people. The place they stopped at was indeed quiet and with little people around. Ricky sat in front on a tree and Ruby sat next to him. They both enjoyed the silience and Ruby rested her head on Ricky's shoulder. The two enjoyed each other's company.

"What happens...if they do find out...and...they don't buy that I'm a recruit?" Ruby asked.

"Then you'll become a target to them."

"Will I be...your target?"

Ricky turned to look Ruby in the eyes. "No...I won't hunt you down if they find out."

"Then what will you do?"

"I stand by your side, no matter what, I'll fight with you."

"Even if you become a target as well."

Ricky thought for a little. "I couldn't live with myself if you were hurt because of me."

Ruby scooted away slightly and turned away from Ricky. To his surprise though she laid back with her head on his lap.

"So now what?" she asked looking into the sky.

"Now," Ricky thought before continuing "we try to live normal lives."

'Normal' the word went through Ricky's head. Nothing about him was normal, there was always another secret he kept, but not this time, Ruby knew every thing about him and she still treats him like a good friend, or something more. Yet Ricky couldn't help but feel like he's put a burden on Ruby by telling her. What would he do if the time came were the hunters became the hunted. Only time would tell so Ricky enjoyed the time he had with Ruby.


	18. Discipline

A few days pat and before everyone knew, it was Friday. Ricky spent a little more time with Ruby making up for his absence when he first received his team. It was mostly in the Recreational Center and the time they spent their was in silence. He almost forgot that a week ago he gave Ruby his right hidden blade. Today he made sure she was wearing it. They where under the same tree as always and Ruby was resting her head on Ricky's lap when he asked.

"Are you wearing it?"

"Yup."

"Good… I'm guessing in the time you had it you already learned how to use it?"

"Well, I know how to deploy it, using it in combat still no."

"I understand."

Ricky was thinking of asking Ruby to the dance that was going be held in a couple of weeks. He decided against it and instead continued to enjoy the quiet time.

When he got back to his dorm Cyrus was standing alone in the center. He didn't seem happy.

"Hello Cyrus" Ricky greeted when he walked in.

"Your lucky I'm generous and wont tell the creed what you've done."

"What did I do?"

"You know exactly what you did!" Cyrus silently shouted at Ricky moving towards him with his finger pointed at him.

"No, I don't" Ricky said moving Cyrus's hand away.

"You revealed us!"

"Ok I did, what are you gona do? Kill her!" Ricky silently shouted back.

"You know what the creed says Richard"

"I know! How did you even find out?"

Cyrus dematerialized into smoke; he reappeared in the left side of the room with his eyes glowing purple then they returned to their normal shade of brown.

"I was wondering what your semblance was," Ricky said.

"You should be executed for what you've done!" Cyrus said moving closer to Richard and again pointing his finger at him.

He grabbed his hand and said, "I'm team leader, I'll call the shots"

"Is that who you think you are, a 'leader'? Have you forgotten what you are? You're not a hunter Richard you're an assassin."

"You think I chose to be an assassin?"

"I think you should follow your creed." Cyrus said jerking his hand away from Ricky's.

"And I think you should act more like a brother to your sister"

Cyrus grabbed Ricky by the collar and raised him up to eye level with him.

"Don't talk to me about family!"

Richard definitely hit a sensitive spot for Cyrus. He knew Cyrus and Iris never talked to each other and Cyrus turned down the childish things Iris did. Iris was after all his only family.

"My family is dead."

"Then they can't see how much you're failing them right now."

It was on.

Ricky clenched his fist and struck Cyrus right in the jaw he let go of Ricky and held his face. He looked at Ricky with his anger clearly showing. He went to punch Ricky in the face, but Ricky ducked and punched him in the gut. Cyrus kneed upward hitting Ricky's chest. He stumbled back and got into a fighting stance. Cyrus did the same. Ricky went for another punch to the face, but Cyrus grabbed his arm and used his other to hit him in the gut. Ricky pushed Cyrus's arm away. Cyrus went for an uppercut, but Ricky stepped back to dodge and retaliated with a downward strike to the head and uppercut combo. Cyrus pushed Ricky so his back hit the desk. He tried to strike high, but Ricky ducked and tackled Cyrus to the ground. Cyrus rolled them over to be on top of Ricky. He began punching him while Ricky tried his best to cover his face.

Then Harper and Iris entered the room to find them on the floor fighting.

"Whoa, whoa!" Harper called out as he tried to hold Cyrus back and pull him of Ricky.

"Why are you guys fighting?" Iris asked.

"Let go of me!" Cyrus yelled releasing himself from Harper's grip.

"Hey man, we're a team we shouldn't fight one a-"

"No! We're not a team, we never were and never will be, we trained to fight on our own, without relying on teammates."

"Then leave! No ones keeping you here!" Ricky told him.

"Ricky!" Iris hushed him.

"Fine! I'm done with you and this so called 'team RICH' good luck fighting the white fang without me." Cyrus walked out the room.

"Cyrus wait!" Iris called and ran after him, but he was gone as soon as she looked down the hall.

"What did you say to him?" Harper asked Ricky who was sitting up with his arms on his knees. He wiped some blood from his mouth and looked down at the floor and stayed silent.

* * *

"So thats what got him? Harper asked.

"It's my fault he left, I started the fight" Ricky said.

"Its no ones fault, he just needs time, he'll come back" Iris said trying to lighten the mood.

Harper and Ricky just sat in silence.

"He wasn't wrong though, it is stated that we keep ourselves hidden."

"We will stay hidden Ruby won't tell anyone" Ricky replied to Harper.

"You trust her?" Iris asked.

"I do" Ricky answered.

"Then we better start looking for our teammate." Harper said standing up.

"Right" Iris said standing with him.

"He shouldn't have gotten far, well check downtown Vale" Harper said walking out of the room with Iris.

They stopped at the doorway, Iris look back at Ricky "You coming?"

"You guys go on ahead, I need sometime to think."

"Alright lets go Iris." They left Ricky alone in the room.

Ricky put his head down and stared at the floor. "not again" he mumbled to himself. he remembered when Blake had ran away, he just hoped Cyrus would come back like she did. He only said what he did because of his anger.

He walked out to after about 10 minutes to join Harper and Iris. They searched all around Vale, from the streets to the roof tops but couldn't find Cyrus anywhere. They searched all through the afternoon without finding a hint of where he could be.

"It's almost 8, we should head back, if he doesn't comeback tomorrow we'll search again Sunday" Harper said.

"Alright" Iris replied. They all headed back to Beacon for the night.

* * *

Saturday seemed to last a lifetime for Ricky. Nothing to do but wait for Cyrus. He spent all day in the recreational center thinking about what he'd say to Cyrus when he came back, if he came back.

Ruby came along at the usual time to find Ricky with his head facing the ground.

"What's wrong?" she asked taking a seat by his side. Ricky looked up to see her and sighed.

"Cyrus and I had a fight and now...he's gone" he answered once again putting his head down.

She leaned her head on his shoulder to try and comfort him, but Ricky couldn't help but feel guilty for Cyrus's departure.

* * *

Night fell on the city of Vale and Cyrus stood atop a roof looking into the ocean, wearing his crimson trench coat. Maybe he just let his anger get the best of him and Ricky. Maybe he was right though, Ricky did break the creed and just accepts the fact. Either way he couldn't decide if he should just go on his own, maybe he should just leave the creed if people like Ricky are accepted, they don't have the discipline to follow rules. Then again that would mean he would want there to be a system were everyone is controlled that is what the templars want, maybe thats just what he wants.

A figure joined him on the roof.

"What do you want?" Cyrus asked still facing the ocean.

"Now, now Cyrus I only want to talk" she said in a calm voice.

Cyrus turned to see her, she was wearing a red dress with yellow accents on it. Her eyes were glowing yellow.

"How do you know my name?"

"I know many thing my dear, I also know why you are here."

"And whats that?"

"Because you feel like you don't need a team to help you, you want to show you power and input discipline in those who can't follow simple instructions."

"I..." she was somewhat right which left Cyrus speechless.

"Come now Cyrus and join us so we can finally bring this world to peace, under order."

Cyrus turned to look back at the sea, he pulled his scarf up to cover his mouth. He turned back and said "If i join, you better make sure she doesn't suffer." He implied that the stranger knew he had a sister.

"Of course, and also since you've been so cooperative I bring a gift."

Cyrus turned around and saw a dark red scarf in the stranger's hand. It had the templar cross in white with a black blade going through it. He held onto his current scarf and gripped tight before pulling it off. He threw it in the air and the wind carried it into the city. He grabbed the new scarf and put it on the same way he put his old one. When he did, he pulled it up to show the symbol on it.

"Perfect fit" the stranger said with a sinister smile on her face. "You'll be an import part of our plans."

"Our? Who else is part of this?"

"Oh Cyrus," she began moving closer and put her hand on his cheek, "you'll now what you need when you need to know."

"Very well, how do I get started?"


	19. Before the Night

Sunday morning Ricky, Iris, and Harper went out once more to look for Cyrus. They searched the streets the city once, twice, three times, but still no Cyrus. They finished searching for the fourth time and were regrouping, Iris arrived holding onto something. They where on top of a roof when she arrived.

"Any luck?" Ricky asked.

She put her hand out and showed him and Harper what she found, it was a grey scarf with Cyrus's emblem printed in black.

"His...scarf...but..." Harper was at a loss of words at the site. Ricky just stared at it with a blank expression.

"It doesn't mean he's dead, look again, there's no blood or cuts, all he did was take it off" Iris said.

"Or someone took it off him" Harper replied.

"No, he's out there some where, he has to be" Ricky said picking up the scarf from Iris's hand. He held it with both hands still staring at the emblem on it.

"Ricky's right, if i know my brother he's is skilled, he trained with the grandmaster assassin himself, so there is doubt in my mind that he is still alive" Iris told Harper.

"Now the question is, will he come back?" Harper said. They all stood in silence as non of them knew the answer to Harper's question.

"We'll have to wait and see, until then, we're down a member so we'll have to tell Ozpin" Ricky said clenching the scarf.

"Right" Iris agreed with him.

They headed back to Beacon and made it to Ozpin's office by mid-afternoon. They walked in to see him talking with general Ironwood. They couldn't hear what they were talking about they just heard Ozpin say "excuse me general, but i have business to attend to." Ironwood look at the three of them then made his way out of the office. As soon as he closed the door Ozpin asked "now what do you need?"

"Ozpin...we're missing a member of team RICH" Iris told him. Ricky held out the scarf as proof.

"We don't know where he is or where he could be, he left without a trace" Harper said.

"I see, this will cause problems especially since your 'first mission' is suppose to be assigned in two weeks" Ozpin said with an emphasis on 'first Mission.'

"What should we do?" Iris asked.

"I cannot tell you what action to take only your leader can do that, and its your choice to follow his orders."

Harper and Iris turned to look at Ricky still facing forward.

"But I can say that you shouldn't worry about the current situation. I'll have some people look into Cyrus's where-abouts, until then act normally, we don't want to cause panic, with team CVFY's mission being extended, there is already some distress among the first year students."

"We'll be sure to do so" Ricky said and he stuffed Cyrus's scarf in his pocket and walked out of Ozpin's office. Iris and Harper followed him.

As they were walking Iris and Harper tried to lighten Ricky's mood.

"Ozpin said not to worry, I'm sure well find him soon"

"I sure hope so Harper" Ricky answered.

"Hey we should take our minds of this whole thing and go to the dance next week" Iris suggested.

"How can you say that when your brother is gone?" Ricky said stopping in the middle of the hall.

"Believe it or not, its not the first time he's left me" Iris said.

"I'm sorry I just..." he took a deep breath and exhaled, "Ok, yeah, we'll go to the dance and get some time off."

"Great" Iris said finally showing a smile.

"So you going to ask Ruby?" Harper said patting Ricky's back.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ricky said giving a small punch on Harper's shoulder and also gave a smile.

They headed back to their dorm for the night and got some sleep.

* * *

"Here this should fit you nicely" Cinder said handing Cyrus his crimson trench coat.

"Its exactly the same" Cyrus said putting it on.

"To the casual eye, but it holds a secret that are unlocked by your aura."

Cyrus created a small field of his aura around him and his coat revealed a bright red pattern going vertically up his coat and down his arms.

"Here, these will compliment you well" Cinder handed Cyrus some red and silver tonfas, they clearly had pistols with silencers built into them. Cyrus grabbed them and after swinging them around they vanished and his coat returned to normal.

"I like it" he said.

"I knew you would."

* * *

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and still no sign of Cyrus. Ricky was in the ballroom helping team RWBY with the dance preparations. Ruby didn't seem in a happy mood kinda like Ricky, he started the week with a smile, but it slowly faded again since Cyrus was still gone. He sat with Ruby at a table, she had her head down. Yang walked behind her with a huge speaker, she set it down and the whole placed seemed to rattle a bit. She brushed he hands and walked over to them.

"So have you picked out a dress yet?" She asked Ruby.

"Whats the point, who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going." Ricky put his hand on her shoulder for comfort.

"Oh don't worry, she's going" Yang said. She turned to away and yelled out "Weiss! I thought we agreed. No doilies!"

Weis walked up to her and said "If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines."

Then the door to the hall opened, Neptune and Sun walked in. "Your dance is gonna have fog machines?" Neptune asked while he was walking in.

"We were thinking about it" Weiss said walking to stand in front of Neptune, putting her hands together in front of her.

"Thats pretty cool" Neptune pointed while saying.

"You ladies all excited for dress up?" Sun asked.

"Ladies and one guy" Richard pointed out.

"Pft yeah right" Ruby said.

"Laugh all you want, I'll be turning heads tomorrow night" Yang said crossing her arms.

"What are you two wearing?" Weiss asked them.

"Uhh, this"

"Ignore him, for he knows not what he say" Neptune said putting his arm in front of Sun.

"Hey I may have moved to Mistral, but i grew up in Vacuo, its not exactly a shirt and tie kinda place" Sun said moving in front of Neptune.

"Yeah we noticed" Yang said.

"So what does Blake think of all this? She still being all, you know, Blakey."

"Obviously" Weiss said to Sun.

"I still can't think of a way to change her mind" Ruby said.

"Guys, trust me Blake will be at the dance tomorrow." Yang said and she walked out of the hall.

"I wish your sister could do the same with Cyrus" Ricky said sitting back in his chair.

"That dude's still gone, its been like a month" Sun said.

"Yeah I know, you don't need to remind me" Ricky said looking away. Ruby put her hand on his shoulder this time, it was her turn to comfort him. Ricky turned back to look at her and gave a slight smile.

"Well we need to go get our suits" Neptune said motioning Sun.

"We'll see you later" Sun said looking back while they walked out.

"I better go too" Ricky said getting up.

"Are you coming to the dance tomorrow?" Weiss asked.

Ricky sighed and said "I don't know" and he walked out.

He went to the library to try and think about something else, something other than Cyrus. He couldn't get the thought out of his mind, he remembered their fight just the way it happened.

"Then Leave! No one's keeping you here!"

"Fine! I'm done with you and this so called 'team RICH' good luck fighting the white fang without me."

His anger got the best of him and he hated himself for it. He sat at one of the computer terminals just staring at the screen. He heard someone bang the table, he turned to see Blake stand up and walk with her head facing down. Ricky was curious as to what was going on so he followed at a distance watching where she went. She eventually bumped into Yang, She grabbed Blake's arm and scurried away. Ricky continued to follow them. They went into a class room and closed the door behind them. Ricky thought for a while and then went to the outside of the same class. He climbed up to one of the widows, he slowly opened it to see Blake pacing back and forth while Yang sat on the desk. He climbed inside, quietly, making sure they didn't hear him. He stayed up on the rafters and listened in to their conversation.

"The necessity is stopping Torchwick" Blake said to Yang.

"And we're going to, but first you have to sit down and listen to what I have to say" Yang said patting the desk she sat on.

Blake took a seat and Yang continued.

"Ruby and I grew up in Patch, an island just off the coast of Vale. Our parents were Huntsmen, our dad taught at Signal and our mom would take on missions around the kingdom. Her name was Summer Rose and she was like, super mom, baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters, and then, one day she left for a mission and never came back. It was tough, Ruby was really torn up but, I still think she was too young to really get what was going on you know. My dad just kinda, shut down, it wasn't long before I learned why, Summer wasn't the first love he'd lost, she was his second, the first was my mom. He wouldn't tell me everything, but I learned that the two of them had been on a team together with Summer and Qrow, and that she left me with him just after I was born. No one had seen her since."

"Why did she leave you?"

"That question, why? I didn't know the answer but I was determined to find out. Its was all I thought about, I would ask anyone I could what they knew about her. Then, one day, I found something, what I thought could lead me to answers or maybe even my mother. I waited for dad to leave the house, put Ruby in a wagon and headed out." Yang began to draw something on the chalk board. "I must have walked for hours. I had cuts and bruises, was totally exhausted, but I wasn't gonna let anything stop me. When we finally got there I could barely stand, but I didn't care I had made it. And then I saw them, those burning red eyes. There we were, a toddler asleep in the back of a wagon and a stupid girl too exhausted to even cry for help. We might as well have been served on a silver plater, but as luck would have it our uncle showed up just in time." She finished what she was drawing on the board. "My stubbornness should've gotten us killed that night."

Blake stood up from the desk and said "Yang I'm sorry that happened to you, and I understand what you're trying to tell me but this is different. I'm not a child and this isn't just a search for answers i can't just-"

"I told you, I'm not telling you to stop, I haven't, to this day I still want to know what happen to my mother and why she left me, but I will never let that search control me. We're going to find the answers we're looking for Blake, but if we destroy ourselves in the process then what good are we?"

"You don't understand! Im the only one who can do this!"

"No! You don't understand!" Yang turned away from the board to face Blake. "If Roman Torchwick walked through that door what would you do?"

"I'd fight him!"

"You'd loose" Yang said pushing Blake back.

"I can stop him!" Blake said trying to push Yang back, but failing.

"You can't even stop me!" Yang once again pushed Blake. She fell back onto the desk, she got up and Yang hugged her.

"I'm not asking you to stop, just please, get some rest, not just for you, but for the people you care about."

Yang was walking out when she turned back and said "And if you feel like coming out tomorrow, I'll save you a dance" then she walked out.

The door closed and Blake slammed her fist on the desk and put her head down.

"You still don't get it do you?" Ricky said from the rafters.

"Who's there?" Blake said unsheathing her Gambol Shroud.

"Relax" Ricky jumped down from the rafters in front of the desk.

"What do you want?"

"So Ruby tried, Weiss tried, Yang tried, and still its not getting to you."

"What are trying to say?"

"I'm saying its my turn to confess something, something I know I shouldn't, but its better if you knew."

"What is it?" Blake sheathed Gambol Shroud.

"Blake, you and I come from similar backgrounds, you grew up in a village just outside of Vale, you're a faunus, and you were once part of am organization that killed people."

"What?"

"Blake, I am in an organization that kills people" She put her hand on Gambol Shroud. "Not people like you." She put her hand down.

"People who treat you and others like, like minions, they want to rule over everyone and the worse part is, they already have the power to do so."

"Who are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about an group known as the Templars."

"Templars, didn't they disperse a long time ago?"

"Thats what they want you to think, really there everywhere that has power, and they intend to abuse that power, to gain absolute control."

"You, kill then?"

"The ones we can find."

"And who's we?"

"The Assassins."

"Your gonna tell me they also still exist."

"I am, and that I'm one of them."

"What the point in telling me this?"

"My point is that being an Assassin, you don't make friends, or be part of a family, you learn to live on your own. Most people like that have joined, like me, don't have a family anymore, they fight to avenge them and in the process learn about the reality of the world, that not all stories have a happy ending. Even before i became a member, I didn't have friends all I had were my parents, and once they were gone, all I had was my mentor's training, the cloths on my back, and the weapons I carry with me. That is until I came to Beacon and became part of your team. I wasn't the most social person at first, but that didn't stop Ruby, she got me to actually be part of the team and when I did I made friends. Friends that didn't care about what I was or the way I am, they just wanted me with them. I even made more friends after that, Iris, Harper...Cyrus... but when you start to push away your friends, after a while...they won't come back. What I'm trying to say is, you have good friends Blake, friends that care about you and that will be there for you, but keep ignoring them, push them away, and they'll stop being there for you, I know, its happened to me, and I regret every part of it. So listen to me when even I say, go to the dance tomorrow, spend time with friends, and enjoy yourself, its not something you'll get to do everyday, trust me."

"Okay...I guess."

"Good and don't tell anyone about me being an Assassin, like I said I wasn't suppose to tell you."

"Your secret's safe with me."

"Thank you, now if you'll excuse me, there something I need to do."

* * *

Ricky was outside team RWBY's dorm, he had a red rose behind his back. He put his hand up to knock but kept it up there re-thinking his idea. He went through with it and knocked on the door.

"Coming" he heard inside. Weiss opened the door.

"Oh, hello Richard."

"Hi Weiss is Ruby here?"

"I'm here" Weiss moved out of the way and Ruby was now in the door way "Whats up?"

"Can I, talk to you, in private?"

"Oh sure" she closed the door behind her.

"Ruby I was wondering,"

"Mhm"

"Well, we've been friends for a while and uhh"

"Yes?"

"Well I was uh wondering umm"

"Are you asking me to the dance"

Ricky looked down to see he had moved the rose from behind him to in front of him.

"Y-yes, will you go to the dance with me?"

Ruby put her arms around him and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Does that answer your question?"

Ricky gave a smile and said "Yes, it does, one thing though."

"What is it?"

"Please tell me your not wearing you cape to the dance."

Ruby gave a small laugh "Only if you don't wear you hood."

"aw man, Okay then" he replied jokingly "now there's one last thing I need from you."

"What's that?"

Ricky kissed Ruby on the lips. She blushed a little, but didn't pull back.

"Does that answer your question?"

Ruby nodded and Ricky placed the rose in Ruby's hair.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow"

"See ya" and Ruby entered her dorm.

Ricky was about to walk back when he heard screams and Yang's voice ask "What did you say!?" There was a pause and then more screams. Ricky gave a smile and turned to walk back to his dorm. Harper came out of nowhere and said "Thats the spirit." Iris also came out and said "don't worry, we'll make sure you have fun tomorrow."

Ricky replied "thanks, you guys are real friends."


	20. Silent Strangers

**Author's Note: So for those of you who haven't read the prequel story for Hunter's Creed I've finally come up with names for Ricky's weapons, his pistol-tomahawk is Chaos, charge-pistol is Order, and his bow-sword is Shadow Striker. **

* * *

Ricky was outside of team RWBY's dorm. He was wearing a black suit with grey linings and a grey bow tie. He had his hands behind his back and was patiently waiting for Ruby. He never saw her without her red cape, so he didn't know what to expect. Ruby opened the door to walk out. Ricky saw Ruby in a red skirt with a black bow on her side, she was so beautiful that he was silenced from any words.

"Its doesn't look bad…does it?" Ruby asked because of Ricky's silence.

Ricky snapped out of it after she asked, "n-no you look, amazing."

Ruby let go of the door and tried to take a step forward, she lost her balance and almost fell forward if Ricky wasn't there to catch her.

She looked up and said, "I don't exactly feel amazing."

"Don't worry, if you fall, I'll be there to catch you" Ricky said helping her stand up straight. Ruby hadn't noticed before but Ricky was taller then her by about two inches.

Was he always that tall or did he grow?

Was she always this pretty when we met?

Each of them had questions about each other going through their minds as they stared into their eyes.

"We should be on our way, the dance started a little while ago" Ricky said ending the short silence the two had.

"Right" Ruby agreed.

"Shall we then?" Ricky asked putting out his left elbow for Ruby to hold on too.

"Yes, we shall" Ruby said holding on to it and the two made their way to the dance.

* * *

"So what's the plan?"

"We head into the transmit tower and you'll do your magic with the terminals there."

"And after?"

"You disappear, simple."

"And you?"

"I'll be at the party of course."

"Fine, when do we head out?"

* * *

"Ohh you look beautiful!" Yang cried out at the sight of Ricky and Ruby entering the ballroom. Ruby scratched the back of her head in slight embarrassment. Ruby and Ricky walked into the ballroom, Ruby still holding on to Ricky so she wouldn't fall. They walked over to the side of the ballroom floor currently filled with dancers. Weiss came over to them.

"You two are just the cutest" She said when she approached them.

Ricky scratched behind his wolf ears and gave a sheepish smile while Ruby blushed a little.

"So who did you come with Weiss?" Ruby asked as her blush slowly disappeared.

"Oh I'm too busy to worry about boys" she said.

Ricky noticed Blake and Sun walk in, he motioned Ruby to see. They both saw, along with Weiss, Blake follow Yang to the dance floor.

"Wait whats going on?" Ruby asked a bit confused.

"Yang reserved a dance with Blake, don't ask how I know I just do" Ricky answered.

The three of them watched Yang and Blake dance. It brought a smile to their faces seeing that Blake had shown up to the dance. After their dance Yang kindly moved aside for Sun and he and Blake begin to dance. Yang made her way to the three of them and they could see Blake laughing and having fun. She looked over at the four of them with a smile on her face.

"I'm gonna get some punch, be right back" Ricky told Ruby who finally let go of his arm and stood on her own. He made his way to the punch bowl. He poured one cups when a familiar face approached him.

"So are you alone? Cause I'm pretty sure a kiss on the check is a yes."

It was Harper, "No, Im actually getting punch for her" Ricky said pouring another cup. He turned to see Harper who had a similar suit but with green linings and green bow tie.

"Well anything you need tonight I'll try my best to help you."

"Thanks, but I think I got this one covered, you just enjoy yourself."

"Alright...you might want to get back to her soon, she's talking to Ozpin right now."

Ricky looked to see Harper was right. "See ya later" he said and walked away. Ricky walked over to Ruby, by the time he got back to her Ozpin walked away. He handed Ruby a cup of punch.

"What did Ozpin ask you about?" Ricky asked.

"Oh just telling me about how, being a huntress I can't just be fighting Grimm all the time."

"I'm guessing those heels aren't exactly the best for dancing."

"Well, not without getting a broken ankle...sorry if you wanted to dance"

"It's fine, just try not to fall."

The night went on and Ruby and Ricky stayed close to each other and stayed on the side of the dance floor. The night got really interesting when Jaune put on a dress and began to dance with Pyrrha. They also caught a glimpse of Neptune talking with Weiss. As the night continued Ricky noticed Ruby wanting to return to her normal outfit. They where near the entrance when he asked about it.

"I think now would be the perfect time to, slip away."

"What should we do after?"

"Well, I know a rooftop thats quiet at this time of night."

"Don't you always?"

They began to walk out of the hall when they both noticed two figures running along the roof tops.

"Are they..."

"No, there not wearing hoods" Ricky said answering Ruby's question. "Looks like that roof top is gonna have to wait" they both decided to follow the figures.

They both made there way in the direction the two figures where headed. After some walking they found themselves at the transmit tower. They slowly walked forward and Ruby saw a knocked out guard in the bushes. She and Ricky took out their scrolls and called in their weapons. Their lockers landed not that far behind them, they opened up to reveal their sets of weapons. They both grabbed their own and made their way into the transmit tower. Inside where more guards that where knocked out lying on the ground. There was no sign of the mysterious figures so Ruby called down the elevator so they could check the communications level. They got in the elevator and headed for the higher floor. Ricky had Chaos in its pistol form, he check the magazine, full. He drew Order with his left hand to have both pistols out. The door opened and the room seemed empty, Ruby moved in to investigate.

"Hello? she asked while walking in, Ricky stayed close behind her. She stumbled forward a bit but regained her balance.

"Is anyone there?" She asked again continuing to move forward, "Hello?"

Two figures stood up from behind the main desk, one was a woman no doubt, she wore a tight black suit and had a black mask on. The other wore a crimson trench coat with some black design on it, he had a red scarf to cover his mouth and nose there was a white print on it but Ricky couldn't see what it was, he also wore a black mask. The woman moved in front of Ruby as she continued to talk.

"Excuse me? You know its not a masquerade party so why don't you take off that-"

The woman grabbed a tube from her side and let out some type of dust. Instantly it formed into glass shards in front of her and she sent them hurdling towards Ricky and Ruby. Ruby spun Crescent Rose to block the shards and she and Ricky Began to retaliate be shooting at her. The other figure got in front of her, the black design on his coat began to glow bright red and a pair of red tonfa appeared in his hands. He spun them to block each of Ruby and Ricky's shots. The woman's cloths also light up and a pair of swords appeared in her hands. Ruby swung Crescent Rose behind her and fired so she could attack them. The one in the trench coat disappeared into smoke and the woman flipped back to dodge Ruby's attack. Ricky ran forward to assist Ruby, the woman jumped back and her swords turned into a bow and three arrows appeared ready to be fired. Ricky kept running forward and when the stranger released he slid under the arrows, sheathed his pistols and took out Shadow Striker, he took out an arrow as fired it at the stranger. The other figure appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the arrow out of the air and snapped it in half. Ricky got out another arrow and had it aimed directly at the two, until the elevator rang. Ricky looked back to see the doors open and General Ironwood was there. He turned back to face the strangers, but they where gone in their place was a little black smoke and that was it. Ironwood did not seem happy at the sight and Ricky knew he and Ruby had a lot of explaining to do.

* * *

**AN: Also sorry if this chapter is a bit lacking in detail, this is only because durring the dance we don't really see what Ruby does so Ricky just really follows her around.**


	21. Back on the Team

**AN: Just want to give a quick Shout-out to my friend UmeMuhinyi99 on deviantART. She's the one that did the new cover and she has many more great drawing over on her profile. So go check her out she's awesome at what she does. Also I'm kinda alternating between Ricky and Richard I hope that isn't too confusing, I've just gotten used to writing Richard after the Prequel Story.**

* * *

"Come in."

Ruby and Richard walked into Ozpin's office, General Ironwood and Professor Goodwitch where inside with Ozpin.

"Sorry it took so long, someone accidentally hit all the buttons in the elevator on the way up here" Ruby said, "It wasn't me."

Richard knew it was she but didn't say anything.

"Thank you for coming you Ruby, Richard, how are you two feeling?" Ozpin asked.

"Okay I guess, I'd feel better if my bad guy catching record wasn't O-for-3."

The three adults just stared at her in silence.

"Okay so that's the tone we're going for, got it" Ruby said scratching behind her head.

"Ruby, I feel its appropriate to let you now that I think what you did last night is exactly what being a huntress is all about, you recognized a threat, you took action, and you did the very best you could." Ironwood said putting his hand on Ruby's right shoulder. All he gave Richard was a look and Richard didn't take it very friendly. Richard didn't know if Ironwood didn't trust him because of his Faunus roosts or maybe he knew he was in the creed, he is a friend of Ozpin after all.

"Thank you sir" was all Ruby responded with.

"Now, the general here has already informed us of the events that…transpired last night, but now that you've rested we were wondering if you two had anything to add." Ozpin said to the two.

"Was anyone else with them, did they look familiar to you at all?" Goodwitch asked.

"I don't know, they were wearing masks, they never said anything to us, but I know the woman fought with glass, I don't think that was her semblance though, both of their cloths lit up whenever they attacked" Ruby answered.

"Safe with a glass, that sounds the woman I fought the night we met Ruby" Goodwitch said.

"Embedding dust into clothing is an age old technique it could have been anyone" Ironwood responded.

"What about the other one?" Ozpin asked.

"He was quiet the whole time as well…I think his semblance allowed them to escape, there was black smoke where they disappeared." Richard answered wondering who it could be, he knew Cyrus had that ability, but it couldn't be him, could it?

"Wait, you think these two are connected to Torchwick and the white fang?" Ruby asked.

"Its possible" Ozpin answered, "but we still lack the required evidence to link the two together."

"Actually, I think I remember them saying something about a hideout, in the southeast, just outside the kingdom." Ruby added. Richard instantly realized the discrepancy in Ruby's report. He wasn't the only one.

"I thought you said the intruder never-"

"Thank you for your cooperation Ruby, why don't you go and spend sometime time with your team, you have a big day ahead of you."

"Anytime" Ruby said making her way out with Richard.

"And miss Rose," Ozpin said before they exited "Please try and be, discreet about this matter."

"Yes sir" She answered.

"Also, I'd like to speak with you again Mr. Kenway, if you could wait outside my office, I will call you in again when we're finished discussing this matter."

"Yes sir" Richard answered and walked out with Ruby.

Once the door closed behind them Richard asked, "What was that?"

"What?" Ruby asked back.

"You said they never spoke, which they didn't, then said they mention something about a hideout?" Richard explained a little angrily.

"Well how else am I suppose to let Ozpin know that?" Ruby asked in her defense.

"Ruby, that was info Ozpin probably knew already."

"Well I'm sorry, Ugh! Why does everyone treat me like a child!"

Richard realized what he did and looked Ruby in the eye to respond, "I'm sorry...I just...I've already lost one teammate Ruby, I don't want to loose another."

Richard looked down in defeat, but soon after he felt Ruby hug him, he hugged back. After a short time Ruby let go and said "I'll see you later" and walked back to her team dorm.

Richard let out a sigh and then looked to see Ironwood and Goodwitch exit Ozpin's office.

"Ozpin would like to see you now" Goodwitch told him. Richard nodded and entered the office once again.

"You wanted to see me again Ozpin?" Richard asked as he entered the office.

"I did," Ozpin said turning around in his chair to face Richard.

"Team RICH is still down a member, am I correct?"

"Yes sir, Cyrus has still not returned and we have no idea where he could be."

"hmm" Ozpin took a sip of his coffee, "well I cannot let an incomplete team go on a mission, so the best course of action for me to take is to divide your current team and place them with another."

Ozpin took out his scroll and did something on it, shorty after Richard's own scroll beeped and he took it out to see what it was. Another Headmaster's note, 'Richard Kenway will be accompanying team RWBY on their first mission due to the disappearance of team RICH member Cyrus Len. Any mission team RWBY accepts he will accompany them on. - Headmaster Ozpin.'

Richard looked back up to see Ozpin, "what about Harper and Iris?"

Ozpin took another sip of coffee before saying, "Harper will be with team SSSN and Iris with team JNPR."

Richard looked back down at the note on his scroll. he reread it to see if there where any detailed he glossed over. He closed his scroll, put it away, and said "Very well" to Ozpin before exiting the office.

Outside Richard was about to make his way to his dorm when a cart almost crashed into him. It stopped right in front of him and there was a student that was pushing it around, the cart was full of mail.

"Hey slow down" Richard told the student driving the cart.

"Sorry! I'm kinda in a rush. I'm I woke up late and its mail day and need to get all this delivered before the first year students go on their first mission." The student spoke quickly and hastily. "Wait are you Richard Kenway!?"

"Yes" Richard answered.

"Uh! Thank god! Package!" the student said handing Richard a rather large package.

"Can't stay and talk gotta deliver!" the student said running off down the hall.

Richard looked at the package, the return post was the homestead. Second package from them, but Conner just dropped off the first, guess he was extra busy this time. Richard walked back to his dorm with his package in hand he didn't know what it was but he decided to wait until he got back to his dorm. He entered his dorm room, but Harper and Iris where gone, most likely gone to notify the teams they were assigned to. Richard set the package on his bed and began to tear away at the brown paper covering the item. Once it was all off there was a red cylindrical tube laying on his bed. A small grip with a button on it also came in the package. Richard held the grip in his left hand and the tune in the other. He pushed the button of the grip and mechanical sounds from the tube could be heard. There where smaller rods inside that where turning and screwing on arrow tips, it was an advance quiver, one that could hold multiple arrow tips so any one that was needed could be chosen.(Basically think of Hawkeye's quiver from the Avengers) Richard was actually surprised to see that the people back at the homestead sent him this. He took off his quiver that rested on the back of his belt and hung it up on the door hook that was on the closet. Then he slung his new quiver over his back, parallel to his bow. He placed the grip on the left side of his belt. He pushed the button once more and a arrow popped up from the quiver. He pulled it out and saw the tip was red. He placed the arrow back in the quiver and pushed the button three times, the arrow tip screwed off and the rod was placed back in line with the others. After the experimenting with the quiver Richard checked his other weapons, he had his pouches full of ammo for his pistols and his sword and tomahawk blades were sharpened. He walked out of his dorm and made his way to team RWBY's.

He was outside about to knock when he heard a bark and then screams, one was "Zwei!" He also could hear Blake's voice "He sent a dog!?" then Weiss "In the mail!?" It didn't surprise Richard that Ruby would have a dog, for better or for worse. He knocked on the door and heard shuffling and Yang ask "where can we hide him?" then metallic noises. After a while Yang opened the door. "Hello!" she greeted Richard very friendly.

"Hello Yang, I was wondering if you guys got a message from Ozpin about first missions?"

"Hmm, nope can't say we have." She answered rather quickly.

"Well then theres something I need to tell your team...can I come in?" Richard asked since Yang didn't move from the door way.

"Oh, sure" she said moving aside to let Richard in.

The first thing he noticed when he walked in was a pile of canned dog food in the middle of the floor.

"Uh, may I ask what this is for?" Richard said looking at the pile.

"Its for Blake!" Ruby quickly answered.

"Wha-" "yeah, she may be a cat but she loves dog food" Yang said covering Blake's mouth before she could say anything.

"Right..." Richard said. "Well going on about what I need to tell you all," he handed Ruby his scroll with Ozpin's note on it "looks like I'm back on team RWBY."

"What?" Weiss asked.

"He's right, Headmaster's note right here says it all" Ruby said handing back the scroll.

"Any mission you guys choose, I'm going with you."

A dog popped up from the pile of dog food in the middle of the floor, right in front of where Richard was standing. Richard looked down to see the black and grey corgi currently in the middle of the pile. Everyone else stayed in silence to see what Richard's reaction would be. He slowly kneeled down continuing to stare at it eye-to-eye. He got closer to examine the dog and he kept a straight face the entire time, meanwhile the dog was showing all kinds of energy panting away. After a while Richard got really close and just stared into the dog's eyes. The dog responded with a lick on Richard's cheek.

"This your dog?" He asked looking up at Ruby.

"Please don't tell Ozpin" she pleaded.

Richard stood back up and said "kinda always knew you would have a dog."

"Really? How?" Yang asked.

"Just a sneaking suspicion" he said scratching behind his wolf ears and looking at Ruby. She knew what he meant, the others, not so much.

An announcement came on "would all first year students report to the amphitheater."

"Well looks like we need to get going, I'll see you all during mission selection." Richard said walking out of their dorm.

He made his way to the amphitheater and found Harper and Iris, they already told their respective teams as well.

"Quiet, quiet please" Professor Goodwitch said trying to get the large crowd of students' attention. "Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin," she said, and then left the stage to Ozpin.

"Today we stand together, united, Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale, the four kingdoms of Remnant. On this day nearly eighty years ago the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with who, but about the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression, and as you are well aware that was something many could not stand for. As a result those who opposed this tyranny began naming their child after one of the core aspect of art itself, color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither were the generations to come and it was a trend that is held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity. As I said today we stand together, united, but this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today while the rest of the world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it. As first year students you will be tasked with shadowing a professional Huntsmen or Huntress on a mission, some of you may be taken out of the kingdom for several days, others may work within the walls for the rest of the week, but no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember you training, and remember to do your very best."

The crowd applauded Ozpin's speech as he walk of stage and shortly after all the teams moved to the screens that had appeared to select their first mission.

"This is perfect," Ruby began as Richard approached team RWBY, "all we have to do is shadow a Huntsmen working in the southeast."

"Yeah, well follow them around by day and give them the slip at night," Yang said.

"Lets check search and destroy" Weiss suggested.

Richard deduced that they were going after the white fang once again, and while he didn't exactly agree with the fact, he was glad he could follow them on their mission. They made their way to the search and destroy panel to check what jobs where available.

"Here we go, Quadrant 5 needs grimm cleared out" Ruby said pointing to the mission on the panel.

"Well its in the southeast" Blake said.

"Sounds perfect" Yang added.

Ruby selected the mission and typed in the team name 'RWBY' and entered it, but a message came up that said 'Mission unavailable to fist year students.'

"Wonderful" Weiss said after seeing the message.

"Any other ideas?" Blake asked.

"We mail our selfs there."

"Well thats one option," Ozpin said in response to Ruby's suggestion. "unfortunately we determined that the concentration of grimm was too extreme for fist year students. It seems that particular region is quiet popular, in fact I have the sneaking suspicion that the four of you, pardon, five, will make your way there no matter which job you choose."

Richard and the rest of team Ruby gave a look to their leader, she had her hand behind her head and said "whatever makes you say that?"

"I'm still curious as to how you all found yourselves at the docks last semester, I'm interested to know how you really learned about a 'Hideout' in the southeast, and I'm certainly wonder why witnesses reported seeing robots and rose petals in a dance club some time ago."

"uhhhmm...uh well..." Ruby couldn't find an answer. Richard knew that Ozpin knew everything he had said he didn't, he knew because he told him all that info.

"I doubt I'll ever find the exact answers I'm looking for, so how about this, instead of waiting for you to break the rules, why don't we just bend them." Ozpin tapped on his scroll and something changed on the panel with the mission.

"We won't let you down, thank you professor." Ruby thanked Ozpin.

"Do not thank me for this, team work and persistence have carried you far, but you must understand, the things that await you beyond the protection of the kingdom will not care. Stay close to your Huntsmen at all times and do exactly as he says he will be leading you on this mission and he can have you sent back to Beacon if he finds you skills to be unsatisfactory."

Ozpin walked away leaving team RWBY and Richard with those last few words before popping back in to say "Good Luck."

His speech seemed to degrade team RWBY's confidence since they didn't exactly walk out with smiles on their faces, except for Ruby.

"That wasn't exactly uplifting" Yang stated as they walked out.

"But it's the truth" Blake replied.

"Its gona be tough, but I know we can do it" Ruby said trying to raise her teams moral. A student came running pat them saying "Hey team CVFY is back."

They all looked to see the returning team walk by. They knew one person, Velvet, a rabbit Faunus. They walked over to try and talk to them.

"Velvet?" Blake asked in concern for her fellow Faunus "are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I had Yatsuhashi to look out for me." The Faunus answered.

"Your mission was supposed to end a week ago, what happened?" Weiss now asked.

"Nothing happened, it was just, there where just so many" Velvet answered thinking back at the mission she just came from. "Oh but don't worry, you first years are just shadowing Huntsmen so you should be fine."

"Right" Yang said.

"I should go, be safe okay," she told the five of them before walking off.

They all looked at each other before Ruby stepped in and said, "we can do this, we've never backed down before and we're not going to start now."

"Right" Blake said agreeing with her leader.

"Besides it won't only be us out there, we'll be fighting along side a genuine Huntsmen!" Ruby said excited.

"Yeah!" Yang joined in her sister's excitement.

"Why hello everyone, who's ready to fight for their lives!?"


	22. Upon the Mountain

"Who's ready to fight for their lives?"

Richard could not believe the huntsmen he was going to shadowing along with team RWBY. Out of all of the Huntsmen Ozpin chose Professor Oobleck, the history teacher.

"Professor Oobleck?" Weiss asked, just as shocked as the rest of her team.

"Yes I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary, seeing as you've opted to shadow a huntsmen on what is now essentially a reconnaissance mission. I can assure you we will not be establishing a single base of operations, rather we will be traversing several miles of hazardous waste lands and making camp in any defendable locations we may stumble upon, I've pack all of our essentials myself, plotted the air course, readied the air ship, and," he leaned towards Weiss, "it's doctor Oobleck, I didn't earn the PHD for fun!"

He talked quickly and with little rest between his statements.

"Come now children according to my schedule we are already three minutes behind, schedule" he zoomed off to an air ship in the distance.

"You can't be serious" Richard stated.

"Well alright then looks like we're going to save the world with doctor Obleck-okay yeah when you say it out loud it sounds worse" Ruby said trying to sound positive but ending on a down note.

"Save the world!?" They all turned around to see team JNPR walk towards them, accompanied by Iris.

"Your going on world saving missions without us!?" Nora continued to exclaim, "I'm hurt, sad, maybe a little hungry, that last ones not your fault though, Ren" She ended with a look towards Ren.

"Sounds exciting, where you going?" Jaune asked.

"Oh just outside the kingdom" Ruby answered.

"Hey so are we!"

"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village" Pyrhha said after Nora.

"We set out tomorrow" Ren added.

"Then you can party with us tonight!" Sun and Neptune appeared off to the side of the two teams, with Harper.

"We're shadowing a crime specialist, all inner city detective stuff, we get junior badges" Neptune explained.

"We normally go to the city with you guys, which means stuffs always exploding and junk, so, we thought this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when its, normal." Sun said trying not to offend the two teams.

"Well-"

"Four minutes behind schedule!" Oobleck cut off Ruby's statement.

"Well, wish us luck" Ruby ended with.

"Hey, stay safe alright" Harper said.

"Well see you when you return" Iris added.

"Don't worry guys, its nothing we shouldn't be able to handle" Richard assured and walked off with team RWBY to the air ship leaving his friends.

They boarded the air ship and took off right away. The course was set to the southeast of Vale.

"I guess I never saw you as much of a fighter" Yang was talking to Oobleck.

"I admit I fancy myself as an intellectual, but I can assure that being a huntsmen I've had my fair share of tussles."

"Like the mushroom?" Ruby asked confused.

"Those are truffles" Blake corrected.

"Like the sprout?"

"Those are brussels" Yang this time corrected.

"Like that guy on team CRDL?"

"Thats Russel" Richard this time corrected.

"Besides, given my expertise in the field of history as well as my dabblings in the archeological surveys our dear headmaster saw it fit to assign me to this particular, assignment.' Oobleck added.

"What does history have to do with this?" Weiss asked.

"Why what a preposterous question you silly girl, why history is the backbone our very society, and the liver, probably the kidneys if I were to wager."

"And that means?"

"The southeast quadrant outside of Vale is homed to wild forests and deep caves, but it is also the location to one of the kingdom's greatest failures"

"Mountain Glenn" Ruby and Richard said simultaneously.

"Thats right, it was an expansion of Vale, but in the end it was over run by grimm and fenced off from the city" Yang said remembering the history she learned in Oobleck's class.

"Correct, and now it stands abandon, as a dark reminder" Oobleck added.

"And a likely place for a hideout" Blake stated.

"Precisely" Oobleck said adjusting his glasses.

The air ship was closing in on the landing site. It came closer to the ground and when it slowed down each member of team RWBY jumped out one-by-one. The city ruins seemed abandon, there where broken window, huge cracks in the walls, and rubble piles around semi-destroyed buildings.

"Everyone, you still may be students but as of this moment your first mission as huntress and huntsman has begun from this point forward you need to do exactly as I say, do you understand?"

Everyone looked at Ooblek and gave a slight nod.

"Ruby, I thought I told you to leave all your bags back at school?" Oobleck said to Ruby. She had a Beacon academy bag with her.

"But you hadn't told us to listen to you yet, so I didn't" Ruby said.

Every one gave a 'really' look while Oobleck thought and said out loud "She's not wrong."

"Very well Ruby leave your bag here we can pick it up upon our return."

Ricard actually began to wonder what Ruby would bring with her on her first mission. He began to grow curious on what was in Ruby's bag. He grew closer to it to sniff it.

"Very well Ruby leave your bag we can pick it up upon our return"

"But I wha-"

"Young lady what in the world could you possible have in that bag that can be so important to bring it with yo-"

Before Oobleck could finish his statement Zwei popped out of the bag and licked Richard's cheek. Richard and the others where looking at Ruby with Zwei in her bag.

"Get back in the bag" she whispered to Zwei who just gave a bark.

"We're here to investigate an abandon urban jungle teaming with death and hostility and you brought, a dog?"

"I uhh-"

"GENIUS!" Oobleck shouted spinning back.

Everyone gave Ruby a look witch she just shrugged at. Then Oobleck zoomed past and grabbed Zwei. Ruby would have fell from Oobleck if Richard had not caught her and put her back on her feet.

"K-Nines are historically know for their perceptive nose and heighten sense of sound making them excellent companions for hunts such as ours." Oobleck stated while spinning and holding up Zwei.

Everyone just stared at Oobleck and Ruby said, "I'm a genius."

Weiss, Yang, and Richard all placed their palm over their face.

"So what are your orders doctor?" Blake asked.

"Ah yes straight to the chase, I like it," Oobleck said dropping Zwei. "As you've been informed the southeast area has been marked as a recent hotspot for criminal activity, now there are several possible explanations for this behavior one of which being, Grimm."

The was a short silence after that since all of them were confused at doctor Oobleck's last words.

"Uh what?" Ruby asked.

"Grimm, a creature of Grimm approximately 100 yards from us at this very moment" Oobleck answered.

"What!?" Yang exclaimed as they all looked behind them. They all readied there weapons to fight it.

"Stop, there are a number of reasons why Grimm reclamrigate in this piticular area, the most likely of which would be their attraction to negativity, sadness, envy, loneliness, hatred, all qualities are likely held by our hidden group hovering near intent." Oobleck explained.

"So what now?" Ruby asked.

"We wait, we track, if the specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsiquently lead us to our prey" Oobleck responded with.

"How long do we wait?" Yang asked.

"It's uncertain hours, days, weeks, why lone Grimm have been known to stay isolated from the pack for months-and theres the whole pack."

Richard could see that more Beowolves where arriving on the scene.

"What!?" Weiss exclaimed.

"And now they've seem us."

"What!?"

"And now they've seem us!" Oobleck said practically screaming in Weiss's ear.

"What's the plan then?" Yang asked as the Beowolves began to charge them.

"Show me what your capable of" Oobleck responded with.

Richard pushed the button on the grip he had on his belt and drew his bow. An arrow popped out of his quiver and he grabbed it with his left hand and drew back aiming at the wave of Grimm charging. Ruby stuck her scythe in the ground with the barrel pointing in the same direction.

"Cover your ears Zwei" she said.

Richard watched as Yang was the first to charge the Grimm. Weiss and Blake followed after, Richard meanwhile stayed with Ruby. She shot bullet after bullet at the large wave heading towards her and Richard. Richard shot his arrow at one of the Grimm, it exploded, but it was soon replaced by another. He looked at the small structure to the left of the charging group. It was ready to come down all it needed was a support to be taken down. Richard took out another arrow and aimed for a cracked column. He scored a direct hit and the column shattered bringing the small building onto the Grimm. It did little to their means of attacking as more kept coming charging up and over the rubbled. He would run out of arrows in this one encounter if he shot each Beowolf. He needed to switch his attack and get up close to fight with his sword and tomahawk.

"Cover me" Richard said to Ruby as he ran off towards the Beowolves. She nodded.

Ruby reloaded her scythe and continued her barrage of sniper rounds. Richard ran behind a row of columns to stay out of the Beowolve's sight. He kept running trying to get closer to the Grimm. He made it to the front line of them. He could see them falling one by one from Ruby's sniper, but they kept pushing forwards. He charged into the line slashing into a Beowulf that was running. It fell and some others now turned to Richard. He took a stance with his sword and tomahawk out and ready. The first one tried to jump on him, but he pointed his sword towards the belly of the beast and stuck it all the way through. He threw the body off his sword and another two charged him again. The one on his left went for a right slash, but Richard was able to block with his sword. He slashed with his tomahawk and spun, bringing around his sword for a second slash. The other was behind him and tried to pound Richard into the ground. He rolled out of the way and threw his tomahawk at the beast. He landed it right in its neck.

Richard saw the last Beowulf run past him and continue to run in Ruby's direction. He saw her also charge the Beowulf and, in one swipe, cut in half with her scythe.

All of them regrouped with Oobleck afterwards.

"Piece of cake" Ruby confidently said.

"Do not celebrate yet, for I am certain that this is the first bout of many, shall we continue?" Oobleck asked.

They all nodded in agreement.

* * *

Hours went by with nothing but Grimm and rubble found. While the White Fang might not have been found Oobleck did find something from team RWBY. Oobleck had interviewed the members except for Ruby. Richard remembered their responses. Yang said she was a thrill seeker who wanted to travel the world. Weiss explained how she had a legacy to keep with her family's name. Blake said she wanted to stop the corruption in the world. Richard wondered IF he would ask Ruby as well but instead he found the doctor questioning him.

Richard just released an arrow killing a Beowulf when Oobleck asked.

"Mr. Kenway, why did you enroll at Beacon?"

Richard thought for a moment. Oobleck was the Huntsmen chosen by Ozpin, surely he knew what Ozpin knew about him. That means he knows that Ozpin asked Richard to enroll at Beacon, Richard hadn't made the choice on his on.

"Doctor Oobleck, would you believe any answer I give you?" Richard asked him back.

"Hmm, well that depends on you answer." He said.

"Well, I don't have one. I didn't choose to be a Huntsman...I was asked to be" Richard said.

"Let me rephrase my question" Oobleck said, "why did you join your creed?"

"My creed?" Richard asked since Yang and Weiss where around listening in to their conversation, they didn't know of the Assassins like Ruby and Blake did.

"Yes, you know what I'm talking about Mr. Kenway" Oobleck said more seriously this time.

Richard thought. "I didn't "join" my creed...I was raised by it. At a time when no one else would take me in, they did. Its why I'm still a part of them, because I ow them."

Yang and Weiss definitely heard his answer. Oobleck didn't say anything after instead he walked away. Weiss and Yang gave Richard a look before joining Oobleck. Richard let out a sigh, no doubt they'll ask about it later. Only a matter of time now. Richard walked to join them.

"No, I believe that will have to do for today, its going to be dark soon" Richard walked in on Oobleck talking to the team, He threw his bag at Yang who caught it.

"You four, set up camp in that building, oh and please do make sure there are no more of those creatures." He turned to face them, "your leader and I are going to secure the perimeter, come Ruby." Ruby walked with Oobleck while the rest of them slowly walked into the building Oobleck said to set up camp in. The building was clear so Blake and Richard began to make a camp fire. Once that was ignited the four of them gathered around it.

"I can't believe we didn't find anything" Yang said.

"We've always been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time, I guess we can't always have luck on our side." Blake replied with.

"Hey what did Oobleck mean about 'your creed'?" Yang asked Richard, who was sitting in front of the fire. He had his hood on and was looking down.

Richard took off his hood. "I'd rather not talk about now, if that fine with you" He said looking up.

"Thats not what I meant" Weiss said. "Huh?" Blake questioned.

"Earlier about upholding the legacy, theres more to it then that" She said.

"Yeah, no me too" Yang said, "I mean, I don't know."

"I don't know either, I know what I want to do, but, I'd figure I'd always take one step at a time." Blake said standing up.

"Well it doesn't matter we know why we're here right?" Yang asked but was answered with silence. Not even Richard could answer.

The silence was cut with Oobleck zooming in and saying "Ahh wonderful a text book cam fire."

"Fire!" Ruby followed in with Zwei, "So warm." She kneed down in front of the camp fire.

"Very good eat your dinners and hurry to bed, we have a lot of ground to cover and will need you to take turns keeping watching over our temporary abode, any volunteers for first watch?" Oobleck asked.

"Yo" Ruby said raising her hand. He zoomed out of the room right after.

Ruby walked by when Yang asked, "Hey did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a Huntresses? I mean what did you tell him?"

"Hmm, No he didn't,weird, Oh well goodnight guys" Ruby said shrugging off Yang's question.

They set up their sleeping pads and finished eating before they finally lauded down to try and get some sleep. The silence gave Richard time to think. He thought about his answer to Oobleck and what he'll say to Yang and Weiss when this is all over. One thought couldn't leave his mind, Cyrus was still gone and no one knew anything about where he was. He wondered if he was still tracking the White Fang, maybe that was the reason they didn't find anything, he already swept this place clean. What ever went through Richard's mind it kept him from sleeping.

* * *

**AN: Sorry if this Chapter took a while, I've been having trouble finding time to write, but the next chapter should be out a lot sooner. Thank you to everyone supporting this story, it means a lot to me.**


	23. Midnight's Watch

Richard had his eyes closed but his mind was still filling with questions, it kept him from sleeping.

"Blake, are you awake" Richard heard Yang ask. He kept his eyes closed and listened into their conversation.

"Yeah" she answered.

"Why do you think he asked us about being a Huntress? Blake what was he trying to say?" Yang questioned.

"Maybe he was just curious" Blake said.

"Ya think?"

"No"

"Weiss are you awake?" Yang asked.

"Of course I'm awake you two are talking" Weiss answered seeming to be a bit annoyed, "and I think he, when I said I wanted to honor my family's name I meant it, but, its not what you think, I'm not stupid, I'm fully aware of what my father has done with the Shnee Dust company, since he took control our business has operated in a, moral, grey area."

"That's putting in lightly" Blake stated.

"Which is why I feel the need to make things right, if I had taken a job in Atlas it wouldn't have changed anything. My father wasn't the start of our name and I refuse to let him be the end of it."

"All my life I fought for what I thought was right. I had a partner named Adam, more of a mentor actually; he always assured me that what we were doing would make the world a better place, but of course his idea of a perfect future turned out to be not perfect for everyone" Blake started. "I joined the academy because I knew Huntsmen and Huntresses were regarded as the most noble warriors in world, always fighting for good, but I never really thought past that, when I leave the academy what will I, how can I endue so many years of hate?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out, your not one to back down from a challenge Blake" Yang said.

"But I am! I do it all the time. When you found out I was Faunus I didn't know what to do so I ran, when I realized my oldest partner had become a monster I ran, even my semblance, I was born with the ability to leave behind a shadow of myself, an empty copy that takes the hit while I run away."

The room fell silent for a short time then Yang began.

"At least you two have something that drives you, I've just kinda always gone with the flow you know, and that's fine, I mean that's who I am, but how long can I really do that for. I want to be a Huntresses, not really because I want to be a hero, but because I want the adventure, I want a life where I wont know what tomorrow will bring and that will be a good thing, being a huntresses just happens to line up with that. I'm not like Ruby, she's always wanted to be a Huntresses, its like she said, ever since she was kid she dreamt about being the heroes in the books, helping people and saving the day, and never asking for anything else in return. Even when she couldn't fight she knew thats what she wanted to do, that's why she trained so hard to be where she is today."

"Well she's still just a kid" Weiss said sitting up.

"She's only two years younger, we're all kids" Blake said sitting up as well.

"Well not anymore, I mean, look where we are, in the middle of a war zone and armed to the teeth." Yang said.

"Its the life we chose."

"Its a job," Weiss corrected Blake, "we all had this romantisized vision of being a huntress in our heads, but at the end of the day, its a job to protect the people, and what ever we want will have to come second."

"Your all very noble" Richard finally said. "You understand your responsibilities even though your still young." He sat up on his sleeping matt.

"Of course, we all signed up for this" Blake said.

"No, you all signed up for this, about earlier, what Oobleck said about the creed I fallow. The reason I didn't want to talk it was because I've become unsure of the reason I'm a part of it."

"What do you mean?" Yang asked.

"I mean...I'm like a stray dog looking for somewhere to fit in you know...I didn't chose to be a Huntsmen, I didn't chose to be an Assassin, I just sorta, grew up as one. I've told you before about my mentor, he is also part of my creed he taught me how fight when I didn't know how to, but in doing so, he brought me up into a, 'questionable' clan...Even I've begun to wonder what we're actually fighting for. I've never been given such a freedom to chose where I want to go, so now that I am here, I don't know exactly what to do, thats why I said yes to Ozpin when he asked me to attend Beacon, even though I made it seem like I had my life planned out, I was lost. But, after meeting all of you I can say without hesitation that i know what I fight for, and thats the safety of the people, Human and Faunus alike."

Everyone nodded in agreement with Richard. Meanwhile Richard already began to question the reason he said all those things, this wasn't real freedom and he knew that. The creed would always control what he did, and while he could try to avoid their control, it would mean putting his friends in danger.

Everyone laid back down to try and get some sleep. And in time Richard was able to finally rest.

* * *

**_Dream…_**

'Ricky?'

'Ricky?!'

'Ricky!'

* * *

"Ricky" Ruby whispered. Richard's eyes slammed open from his dream. He slowly leaded up to see Ruby kneeing just above him.

"Its your turn for watch" she whispered once more.

ARichard nodded and got up. He picked up his weapons and slung on his quiver. He walked over to a large hole in the side of the building that Ruby originally was watching from. He took a seat and began his watch. No much happened during his time on watch. Once his shift was done he woke up Yang to take the next shift.

He laid back down and again tried to sleep, but was unable to get any. Not long after he ended his shift he heard Ruby speak to Zwei.

"Zwei its late, go back to bed, Zwei?, Zwei!" he heard her silently shout. H e pretended to be asleep and herd her get up and grab Crescent Rose.

She instantly ran out to follow her dog. Richard slowly got up to follow her. He saw her in the doorway of the building, she was calling out "Zwei, Zwei where are you? Zwei?, Huh?"

She walked out the door saying "Zwei this is a waste land you literally could have done that anywhere." Richard activated his eagle vision to scan the surrounding area for Beowolves, what he found instead where to figures walking around.

Zwei let out a bark and Richard heard them ask "What was that?"

He saw Ruby grab Zwei and move behind a dumpster and quietly moved behind her. When she turned to see him she almost let out a gasp, but Richard moved his hand over her mouth to silence her. He put his finger up to his lips signaling Ruby to be quiet.

"What was what?" they both heard the voices again.

Ruby stuck her head out from the side of the dumpster and could see two white fang members both armed.

'I thought I heard a Beowulf of something"

"Lets just finish our patrol and get back to base, this place gives me the creeps." They heard them converse. Both members began to walk away from their current position.

Without a second thought Ruby moved away from the dumpster and began to tail the two. Richard could only silently say "wait" before he realized he was going to have to follow Ruby. They both quietly moved forward, taking cover behind various obstacles to stay hidden. They where about to turn a street corner when Ruby instantly stepped back to hide behind the wall. Richard leaned against the same wall and watched as Ruby stuck Zwei's head out to let him look.

"Did they go in yet, one bark means yes" she told Zwei.

Zwei let out a bark after Richard could hear a door close.

"Oh, this is it, this is it!" she siliently cheered. She took out her scroll and atempted to call the others, but an message popped up saying 'low signal.'

'Oh man, Come on we gotta tell the others" She said turning to face Richard. He nodded in agreement and the two started to walked back to the camp.

They didn't get far as the ground they stood on began to cave in, It cracked any eventually shattered into a hole in the ground. Ruby and Zwei almost fell in,"Ruby!" Richard caught Ruby's and Ruby managed to grab on to Zwei. Richard was doing his best to try and pull up Ruby, who threw Zwei up out of the hole.

"Ruby, hang on" Richard said, but after the ledge he was on collapsed causing him and Ruby to fall into the underground.

Once Richard landed he was knocked unconscious, he woke up a little time after but his vision was blurry and his head was in massive pain. He could see an image of Ruby trying to fight a white fang member, but she was knocked out with little effort.

"H-Hey!" Richard tried to yell but was met with something hard hitting the back of his head, once again knocking him out.

* * *

Richard's vision soon returned to him, but he could only see small glimpses of his surrounding. The first sight he saw was inside a cavern, there where many white fang members all working on something, Richard lost his sight for a little. When they opened once again he could hear a familiar voice.

"Well, well, well if it isn't Red and White, long time no see." No doubt to Richard that was Roman Torchwick.

"Roman, I'll take 'White' off your hands," some one said. Richard was barely conscious, but he could hear someone say that.

"Be my guest" Roman replied.

Richard was grabbed by his hood and dragged off the last sight he saw was Ruby, also being held by her hood. Then his vision blacked out again.

He opened his eyes to a grey room, someone was still dragging him, and he didn't know who it was.

He lightly threw Richard in front off him. Richard slowly got into a sitting position with his hands still tied behind his back. He could see a crimson trench coat, red scarf and purple eyes.

"Your weapons?" He asked.

"Wha?" Richard replied with he was still out of it.

"Your weapons, where are they?" The stranger asked again this time he was less sympathetic.

"The surface" Richard replied with being as little descriptive as possible.

"Where?"

"I-I don't remember" Richard acted like he was knocked out bad, but in reality he was keeping his weapon locations a secret.

The stranger grabbed Richard by his collar and brought him to eye level.

"Enough playing, where are they?"

"Inside a building, you'll find a bon-fire inside." Richard said giving his weapon locations away. He hoped that the others would have noticed his and Ruby's disappearance.

The stranger dropped Richard, who landed on his knees. He moved his head to the side to expose his neck and took out a syringe and injected Richard's neck with something. Richard let out small grunts from the pain of the needle. Once it was out of him he began to feel drowsy and fell to his side, knocked out.

Richard woke up in the same room. His weapons where in front of him and his hands were freed from the restraints he had. He slowly got up checking all around him. No one was in the room but him. He picked up his weapons and checked then to see if they had been tampered with. They were fine no changes had been made. He put on his belt and clipped on his quiver. He had his bow in his left hand when black smoke appeared and the same stranger from before appeared from it. Richard turned to face him. He just stood there staring at Richard, waiting.

"Who are you?" Richard asked.

"You know who I am" He replied.

"No I don't" Richard answered back with.

The stranger pulled down his scarf and his eyes changed from purpled to brown. Then he flicked his wrist down ward revealing hidden blades.

Richard's eyes widened at the sight of them. What he feared was true.

"Cy-Cyrus?" Richard asked staggered.

"Hmf, Don't acted so surprised"

"Cyrus, what are you doing, don't you remember, we are trying to stop the White Fang" Richard said still shocked at the reveal.

"Fight me" Cyrus said.

"Wha-What?"

"FIGHT ME!" Cyrus yelled charging Richard; he retracted his hidden blades and his red and silver tonfas appeared at his sides. He went straight for Richard's face with his right hand. Richard managed to dodge, but was met with the other tonfa straight to his gut. He fell to his knees dropping his bow.

Cyrus stood over him looking down at Richard.

"Get up" he said.

Richard stayed kneeing down with his left hand grabbing his stomach from Cyrus's hit.

"GET UP!" Cyrus yelled picking up Richard and throwing him across the room.

Richard landing on his stomach and slowly got up into hi previous kneeing position.

"I won't…" he said.

He heard footsteps behind him and could sense Cyrus standing behind. His bow fell in front of him.

"Pick it up" he heard Cyrus say.

Richard slowly moved his hand over his bow he was close to holding it, but his hand just stayed hovering over it.

"PICK IT UP!" Cyrus once again yelled.

Richard clenched his fist over the bow and let it sway back to his side.

"No…" he said calmly "I won't fight you Cyrus"

"Why not?" Cyrus asked still standing over Richard.

"Because…you're… my friend…" Richard said.

Silence came next, both of the assassins stayed quiet.

"Is that it?" Cyrus asked, "Friendship, is holding you back, how pathetic."

Richard continued to stay in silence. He was surprised when he felt a sharp jerk pull back on his hood. He fell back and was staring at the ceiling. Cyrus kneed down next to him looking down at Richard. He held his blade to his throat.

"You may not fight me now, but that doesn't mean I wont find a motive for you."

Then large explosions where heard in the background. Cyrus looked away to see what they were. Richard took the opportunity to search inside Cyrus's coat. He found one of his syringes and quickly injected him. Cyrus turned back to face Richard.

"You, little, bi-uhh" was all he got out before falling over knocked out. Richard got up and tried to remember which way the explosion came from, another one reminded him and he made his way to it. He went up the stairs of the building to get a good view. On the roof he found he was still underground. He looked down to see a train making its way through the city, on it where Oobleck, Ruby, Zwei, Weiss, Yang, and Blake. Richard saw them getting closer and stepped back a little preparing himself to jump onto the train.

"One shot" He said to himself.

"Don't mess it up Rich" He sprinted to the end of the building and leaped forward.

* * *

**AN: So that was a thing... anyway this was kinda a long chapter for me and again I was having trouble finding time to write, speaking of which, I do plan on continuing Huntresses of Peace, the only problem is that my friends have been recommending various Animes for me to watch, so, I've been a little busy. Other than that I hope I can get the next chapter of Hunter's Creed, or maybe even Huntresses of Peace, as soon as possible. And on that note I'm out, Peace!**


	24. Hype Train Has no Brakes

**AN: So...uhh...N204 is my editor now... **

**ME: you got anything you wanna say?**

**N204: Nah I'm good**

**AN: Anyway here is Ch 24 FINALLY.**

* * *

Richard crashed onto the train, but with his hidden blade he was able to stay on. He slowly got up and made his way back to where the others were. "What'd I miss?" Richard asked as if ignoring the fact he just jumped onto a moving train.

"All right children, we must get to the front and stop this train," Oobleck told the five of them.

"Uhh professor," Weiss said with uncertainty.

"Doctor!" Oobleck corrected sternly.

"What's that?" Weiss said pointing into the interior of the cart they were stood upon. Dr. Oobleck looked down at the strange device inside the train.

"That my dear," he said as he took a knee, "appears to be a bomb." Every one took a step back from Oobleck's statement.

Ruby pointed towards the front of the train. "We've got baddies," she said. Everyone looked in the same direction and could see White Fang members slowly making their way towards them.

"Well I didn't expect them to go-" Oobleck was cut off from a powering-up sound that came from the bomb"-easy on us," he finished afterwards.

"Time to go," Oobleck said and everyone jumped to the next cart.

Blake jumped down to where the cars connected to detach it. She called up to Oobleck saying, "It decupled itself."

"I guess he really doesn't want us on this train," Yang said. Meanwhile Richard, Ruby, and Weiss checked the interior of the current cart they stood on. The cart that was decupled exploded behind them.

"That's not good," Oobleck said as Richard and the others found another bomb in their cart.

"Neither is this," Ruby called back.

"Another bomb!?" Blake questioned.

Oobleck ran past them mumbling, " no, no, no." He checked the next cart and called back to them, "they all have bombs!" The bomb in the current cart they were on made a powering up noise and began to beep, then the cart decupled.

"Move!" Richard ordered as they all ran and jumped to the next cart.

"This doesn't make sense!" Yang said. They all turned around to see the White Fang members making their way towards them. Yang swept the legs of a nearby member and punched him into the cart. Blake drew her sword and charged through some slashing them off the cart. Weiss used her dust and charged threw a larger group using ice shards to knock them off. Richard ran forward with his rope-dart in hand moving around the white fang members, dodging their attacks. Once he was passed a wave of them, he threw his rope-dart into the air and it caught onto an iron rafter above. The members looked down to see the other end of the rope-dart was tangled around their feet. Richard gave a mock-salute before they all shot off the train, hanging by their feet. Ruby blasted forward and used Crescent Rose to knock the rest of them off their feet.

"He's leading Grimm to the city!" Oobleck called to them from the back of the train.

"What!?" Weiss call back.

"It's the cars! They detach and explode creating openings for the Grimm!"

"That's insane!" Blake called out just as another car detached.

"We have to hurry, you four go below and try and stop those bombs."

"What about us?" Ruby questioned.

"We're going to stop this train," Oobleck said.

"Ya I know I said that earlier" Ruby stated. Everyone sprinted forward, Weiss, Yang, Blake, and Richard dropped down into the train cars.

"I guess this is what we trained for," Yang stated. Richard didn't get that Yang had just made a pun.

"Here this should help you," Weiss said handing Blake a dust round filled magazine. Blake loaded her Gambol Shroud with it and the four of them began to run through the cars. Before they could get out of the first car a stranger dropped down in front of them. She was short and had brown and pick hair and eyes. She held an umbrella to her side.

Blake, Weiss and Richard were about to draw their weapons when Yang stepped forward and said, "You three go on ahead, this one's mine." Richard could hear the anger in Yang's voice but didn't say anything; instead, he continued to run forward with Weiss and Blake. Yang fired a shot from her gauntlets causing the stranger to have to dodge and let them pass by. They managed to get through to the next cart with ease while leaving Yang behind.

Richard, Weiss, and Blake continued to run through the cars. Richard noticed a dark shadow moving across the floor towards them. As it grew closer Richard had his right hand ready to draw Chaos from its sheath. The shadow finally met them in the middle of the car and continued to move beneath them until it was behind them. That's when Richard drew Chaos and transformed it into its tomahawk mode, and turned to block the sneak attack. No doubt it was Cyrus trying to catch up to Richard, his tonfa where both out and he was going for him. Richard drew Shadow Striker in its sword form. "Keep going, I got this," he told Weiss and Blake. They continued to run to the next car leaving Cyrus and Richard to a one-on-one fight.

"So now you'll fight me?" Cyrus gladly asked.

"Unless you stand down, I have to," Richard answered.

"Then lets fight!" Cyrus said charging Richard.

He backstepped to dodge the initial attack and parried Cyrus's second swing with his sword. Richard raised his tomahawk to try and strike downward, but he disappeared, and reappeared behind him with a kick to Richard's back causing him to stumble forward to try and keep balance. He turned quickly to block both of Cyrus's tonfa with his own weapons. He threw Richard's weapons astray and kicked him back. Richard stumbled backward a bit; he looked at Cyrus swinging his tonfa around ready for another bout. Richard got into a mid-stance and waited for him to move. Cyrus charged with his right arm back ready to throw a punch at Richard. Richard moved into a low stance to dodge Cyrus's punch and swept his leg around to knock him off balance. Richard went for a cross strike, but he blocked both his sword and tomahawk and sent them up into the ceiling of the car. Richard activated he left hidden blade to compensate for his lack of weapons. Richard blocked each attack Cyrus had coming for him and even managed to parry Cyrus and knock him down on one knee. Richard took the opportunity and quickly used Cyrus's exposed knee as a boost and jumped up to grab his weapons stuck in the ceiling on his way down he tried to land a hit, but he disappeared once more causing Richard to stumble forward a bit. He looked all around the car for the shadow he would be hiding in. He couldn't find it in time and Cyrus reappeared behind him and kick behind his knee causing Richard to fall on his right knee. Cyrus grabbed Richard's head and placed his hidden Blade close to his neck. "I win," Cyrus said. Richard tried to pull away Cyrus's arm but could only slow it down a little as the blade grew closer to him. It almost touched Richard's neck if voice hadn't been heard.

"Hey!"

"What the-" Cyrus said turning around and being punched up to the ceiling by Yang. The impact seemed to knock him out as he stayed on the floor when he came crashing down. Meanwhile Richard was on his knees and hands gasping for air from Cyrus's hold. When he looked up he saw the blonde with her hand towards him. He grabbed it and she pulled him off the floor onto his feet.

"Thanks," Richard said to Yang.

The two of them continued to run through the train leaving behind an unconscious Cyrus. They got towards the front of the train when they found a way to the top of the train. They climbed up to see that Weiss, Blake and Ruby were there waiting. They all gathered near the front. They could see the end of the tracks. "What do we do?" Blake asked.

Weiss drew her rapier and stuck it into the trains ceiling and before Richard knew it they were surrounded in a barrier of Ice. They didn't stay in it for long as a huge explosion was heard and the barrier shattered. Richard's sight went out as well as his hearing. There were muffled sirens that he could hear and his sight came back to a large pile of rubble. He pushed himself up and could see Ruby getting up as well. She had a distressed look on her face. Richard turned to see that they were back in Vale and people looked at them in awe. Sudden rumbling was felt and from the hole that the train created emerged a large King Taijitu and a large amount of Grimm all began to terrorize the civilians inside the city.

* * *

**N204: I got something to say, WHY IT TAKE YOU SO LONG TO UPLOAD CHAPTER!?**

**ME: My editor everyone!**


	25. Call of the Creed

**AN: I planned to release this chapter on Thursday, but I was a little busy as well as N204. From now on though, expect uploads every 2 weeks or so, most likely near the the end of the week. Thats all I have to say, so here is chapter 25.**

* * *

Richard and team RWBY all stood back to back in the center of the small plaza they were in. The grimm that had followed them was all around. The king taijitu let out a loud screech, and all the grimm began to rush the team. Richard had his bow ready and drew an arrow from his quiver; he aimed his arrow at the king taijitu. The arrow exploded just under the taijitu's head. It let out another screech this time louder than before.

Richard quickly turned to his left to see a beowulf charging him. He sidestepped to dodge its initial slash. Richard quickly changed his bow into a sword and slashed downward into the beowulf's neck. Richard pulled it out in time to stick it straight through the belly of another one charging. He swiped his sword out of the beowulf's stomach.

Richard looked ahead of him and saw another pack about to charge. Richard closed his eyes for a second, the three beowulf's began to charge him, but before they could get in reach he opened them again staring into each one's red eyes. The beowulves stopped mid charge and stood up on their hind legs, holding on to their heads almost like they were in pain. Richard moved quickly and charged them with his sword and tomahawk out. He made short work of the first beowulf, slicing up its neck first with his sword and again with his tomahawk. He moved to the second one slashing it's chest multiple times in a flurry, then he moved over and severed the third one's leg causing it to fall over. Richard transformed his tomahawk into its pistol from before unloading a few rounds into its head.

Ruby wasn't far as she watched this whole scene go down. She was in a mix of amazement and slight fear watching Richard take out beowulves not only with ease but cruelty. She was so intrigued in Richard's fight that she forgot all about her own situation. As she continued to watch she noticed a shadow grow over her. She turned around to see a large ursa behind her. She didn't have time to react; she only tried to shield herself with her scythe. Right as the ursa was about to slash her to pieces an arrow shot struck the ursa in the forehead. A second after it hit the arrow combusted and the ursa's head shattered as its body fell back. Another four beowulves near her were ready to change. Ruby was about to ready herself when a few shots ran out and hit each one. They all stood and faced in the direction of the shots, as well as ruby. They saw Richard standing in the center section, hood off. Ruby notices a little grey smoke emitting from his ears. She turned back to the beowulves and saw them with their paws on their head, howling. She turned back to Richard, who became a flash the second she managed to get sight of him. When she looked back at the group of beowulves Richard was kneeling in the middle of them. When he stood up the four beowulves fell to the ground. Richard moved on fighting other creeps and beowulves. Ruby heard a hissing sound behind her. She turned around to see the king taijitu tower over her.

Richard was distracted facing grimm when he heard a loud bang go off. He turned and saw Nora flying though the air on Magnhild. She landed, smashing her hammer into the head of the king taijitu, sending it into the ground. Richard looked over where Ruby was at; she was fending off more beowulves and creeps. Richard began to run toward ruby, pulling out Order and Chaos. He aimed at a creep moving behind Ruby. Her swing was to high to hit it, so Richard fired a few shots while sliding under Ruby's swing. He instantly stood up, back-to-back with Ruby.

"How you holding up?" Richard asked without turning around.

"Oh you know, it's just like the training sim." Ruby replied, still combating grimm.

"If that train is part of your simulation, it must be a walk in the park." Richard remarked firing at some creeps.

"I don't mean to brag but I got 176 in Survival X" Ruby said trying to make a comeback.

"Ohh, so close, I only got 180," Richard said finishing the last grimm in their immediate area. Ruby looked up into the sky, which drew Richard's attention. He also looked up and saw the Atlesian battle cruiser and a fleet of drop ships fly in from above. Richard noticed the gun of one of the drop ships aim at him and Ruby. He quickly swung his arm around her and pulled her down as a round of shots.

"Get down!" Richard said right as the bullets hurled over them. After it past them they both looked back to see that it had taken out an ursa that had snuck up behind them. Ruby waved to the ship while Richard crossed his arms a bit upset at the fact they didn't get any warning.

The drop ships all opened their back doors and hundreds of Atlesian knights began to rain down form the sky. Immediately after landing they initiated combat with the grimm still in the city. "Looks like we earned a breath," Richard stated.

"For now," she transformed her scythe into its sniper rifle form, "but I'm still getting more kills than you." She shot at a creep a couple meters away. Richard watched where Ruby fired, each shot landing on its target. Before long other huntsmen came to clean up the rest of the mess, including team CFVY.

Once all the grimm where cleared out and the town square repaired thanks to professor Goodwitch, everyone gathered around congratulating one another for containing the grimm. Richard looked over at the Bullhead that had landed near them; currently two huntsmen were turning over Torchwick to the authorities.

"Oh I can't believe that you caught me, you've really taught me the error of my ways," he said in a sarcastic tone before an Atlesian knight pulled him forward.

"Hey, hey watch the hat!" He remarked as they pulled him on board. Richard looked back at all the huntsmen gathered, he noticed team JNPR and Sun and Neptune present, but there was no sign of Iris or Harper. Richard moved over to team JNPR without Ruby or the others noticing.

"Hey," he said getting their attention, "you guys know where Iris is?" he asked.

"No, she wasn't with us in this morning," Jaune answered.

"Do you have any idea of where she could have gone?" Richard asked concerned now.

"No, sorry" Pyrrha answered.

"It's alright, see you guys around," Richard waved off as he moved over to Sun and Neptune.

"Hey Sun, Neptune."

"Sup,' Neptune answered.

"Harper was with you guys this morning right?"

"No, he left last night, said he had something to do," Sun explained.

"Hasn't come back since," Neptune continued.

"All abroad, next stop Beacon Academy!" The pilot of another Bullhead that had landed called out. Neptune and Sun started walking towards the Bullhead; Richard stood there for a while staring at the ship but lost in thought.

"Hey Ricky, you coming!?" Ruby called out, bringing Richard out of his trance.

"Yeah!" Richard answered jogging toward the bullhead so he wouldn't get left behind. He jumped on board and grabbed onto the overhead handrail.

The trip was quiet, as everyone seemed to take the time to rest from the fight.

Once the Bullhead landed back at beacon Richard's scroll went off. He looked at it as he got off the ship. Message from Ozpin, 'My office, ASAP.'

"Who's that?" Ruby asked as she jumped off next to Richard.

"Ozpin: he wants to see me," Richard answered.

"Well you better get going," Ruby said trying to lighten Richard's seriousness, "see you after?" Ruby asked.

"Of course," Richard answered as he began to walk into Beacon. Before he could get inside the main area a red flash entered Richard sight and he felt his sweater get pulled on; it all happened so quick that he didn't notice until after a second that he was kissing Ruby. It ended as quickly as she became a flash again. He looked back to see Ruby standing there with a big smile. Richard smiled back and waved away as he continued his walk.

Richard walked up to Ozpin's door, as he was going to enter he heard some voices inside. He pressed up against the door with his wolf ears. He managed to hear, "you just have to trust me." After that it sounded like the end of a transmission. Richard stood back straight and knocked on the door.

"Come in," he heard Ozpin say. Richard slowly opened the door and walked in.

"If you wouldn't mind closing the door behind you," Ozpin said with his back to Richard. He obliged and closed the door behind him. Richard walked up to Ozpin's desk.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked.

"No," Ozpin simply replied taking a sip of coffee.

"But, you called for me?" Richard asked confused.

"I did," Ozpin confirmed.

"Then why am I here?" Richard asked now confused more than before. Ozpin turned around in his chair and pointed past Richard.

"For him," he said. Richard turned around and saw a face he knew very well.

"Richard," Connor said with a flat tone.

"Connor, what do you want?" Richard asked in the least rude way possible.

"You know where we have to go at this time of the year, Richard," Connor told him. Richard tried to recall anything important, but nothing came up.

"Care to…remind me?" Richard asked his mentor.

"The assassin council," Connor said. The council! How could Richard forget, it wasn't his main concern but he always knew when he would have to go to Atlas.

"Gather you things, I'll meet you at the docks," Connor instructed. He walked out of Ozpin's office rather nonchalantly. Richard let out a short sigh, he turned back to Ozpin but saw him already turned back around sipping his coffee. Richard began to walk out of the room. When he exited he didn't see Connor anywhere, he was probably already at the docks by this time.

Richard's thoughts began to overflow with conflict. He has to go to Atlas and if he told Ruby she would understand, right? But she might not; he had already avoided her enough when he got his team. Maybe, maybe he just won't go, the council only consist of master assassins, a lower rank isn't as important. But again anyone that fails to attend would be notified as dead or MIA. No, Richard was done with going against the creed; it wasn't him to do such things. But, should he tell Ruby; he promised he'd see her after, but only to leave a moment later.

Richard couldn't decide what to do, all the way to his dorm he thought. Once inside he grabbed the bag in his closet, he noticed most of Harper and Iris' stuff was already gone. He packed his extra sweater, his robes, and some jeans he had spared. He would be gone for a couple days possibly a week. He also put his quiver and bow inside, to make it easier to carry the bag. He slung it to his side and looked at the clock, 6:46pm. He walk out and headed to the docks.

Yang slowly woke up; she heard a thud in the room. She waited for Ruby to get up and pick up what ever fell like she usually does. Some time pasted, and Yang couldn't hear any sounds of getting out of bed, just some snoring from Weiss. She pulled the covers off herself and got up to see what it was. She managed to see one of her Ember Celica on the floor; she forgot to put them in her locker. She let out a small yawn and picked it up. She placed it on the desk next to the other one and walked back to her bed. She noticed Ruby's light was on under her covers. She took a peek in, but Ruby wasn't in her bed.

"Ruby?" she whispered. She couldn't see any sign of her in the room; she peeked out of the dorm. "Ruby?" She quietly called out into the halls, but no reply was heard.

She started to think where Ruby would be at this time, the roof of course, she was going to see Richard again. Yang decided to snoop on her, like a "responsible" older sister. She snuck up the roof access stairway. She peeked out to the roof, but saw Ruby by herself. "Ruby?" she asked. Ruby turned around and saw her in the doorway.

"Oh, hey Yang," Ruby said with a forced smile.

"Ruby it's like 12 or something, why are you still awake? Yang asked, probably knowing the answer.

"Oh, just looking at the stars" Ruby said turning back.

"Really, not waiting for anyone?" Yang teased.

"No, why, who would I wait for?" Ruby asked with a quiet blush.

"Black hair, grey ears ring a bell?" Yang continued.

"N-no!" Ruby hesitated to answer.

"I know about you and Richard," Yang admitted.

"Yang!" Ruby squeaked.

"Oh, my little sister's first love!" Yang said giving Ruby their usual sister hug.

"Yang, please, stop," Ruby tried to let out with little breath. Yang let go of Ruby.

"So how long have you been waiting?" Yang asked.

"Uhh, only four minutes," Ruby answered timidly.

"So, four sounds about right, minutes don't," Yang began to interrogate.

"Uhh…hours," Ruby said even softer.

"Ruby, lets go to sleep, you'll see him in class tomorrow, he probably just forgot," Yang tried to reason with Ruby.

"Alright," Ruby sadly agreed, "but if he says anything about me not being here it's your fault," Ruby pointed at her sister.

"Of course, now can we just get some sleep?" Yang said pushing Ruby's hand away.

"Yeah," Ruby answered. Yang put her arm around her sister as they walked back to their dorm.

Little did she know the wait would be longer than expected.


	26. To Ashes

**AN: **As promised, a chapter towards the end of the week, after two weeks. Enjoy Ch 26.

* * *

The Assassin's headquarters was a large castle like building outside the borders of Atlas. The winter season meant there was light snowfall in the area. Richard had been here before when Connor had brought him for previous councils that had been held. He walked the halls silently by his mentor's side. Though the castle was ancient, the assassins had done a fine job preserving it. Richard and Connor came to a large door at the end of the hall.

"You know the drill."

"Wait for you, I know," Richard replied to his mentor. Connor entered through the large doors and closed them behind him. Richard let out a sigh and turned to start walking back. On his walk he could see assassins of all kinds coming in, from the other three kingdoms, and from some lesser know cities outside their borders. Richard walked up and down the halls waiting as he usually did when a familiar face appeared to his surprise.

"Richard!" Richard turned to see the supposedly retired assassin Arno Dorian.

"Arno?" Arno walked up to Richard with open arms and gave him a bear hug.

"Ah it's been so long, seemed only yesterday we went on your first mission. Ah, memories."

"Arno that's great, but you're squeezing my lungs." Richard said with little breath.

"I thought you were stronger than that." Arno said letting go of Richard.

"Arno what are you doing here?" Showing some happiness seeing an old friend, "I thought you were retired."

"I am...aasss soon as this council is over."

"Really? So what did you do before?"

"Oh nothing much, just secretly looked into the abstergo industry, nothing too big."

"Well did you find anything?"

"That is to be discussed with the council, speaking of which I'm late for, until we meet again."

"Bye Arno," Richard waved off to his old friend. Arno walked into the council room; all the other assassins were already gathered around, waiting. They sat around a large round table with the grandmaster Altair in the center.

"Your late again Arno." Ezio, an assassin from Vacuo, mocked.

"At least I have arrived, unlike that pirate Edward."

"Oi! I'm right here you bag of sh-"

"Edward! please control your cursing in the council room." Altair shushed the pirate from Minstral.

"Arno take a seat, we'll begin right now." Altair told Arno. If Edward was here that meant this meeting was defiantly important enough for him to come out of retirement. Arno took a seat at the large round table.

"Let's get straight to the point." Altair started with. A screen popped up in front of each assassin.

"We've just received word that the apple of Eden has been stolen from the sanctuary in Atlas, I personally take blame in its lack of protection but that isn't the main point, we have to track it down and reclaim it before the Templars can plan anything extreme."

"Do we know who took it?" Connor asked.

"No, the main guards were found dead at the scene, no one reported seeing anyone."

"So we don't have a lead?" A random assassin asked.

"We have one." Altair taped his screen and an image of a person appeared on each assassin's screen.

* * *

Richard was outside the HQ, it was lightly snowing outside, though the cold didn't bother him. He watched the lower ranks practice using their weapons in the small-snowcleared arenas: sparring, firing, and cleaning them. They were almost like huntsmen to Richard, each having a unique weapon and fighting style. "Hey wolf ears!" Richard heard a voice call from behind. It was from an assassin that seemed to be the leader of a small group. "Wanna go a couple rounds!?" He offered extending his collapsable pike. Richard smirked and walked their way.

* * *

"So where is he now?" Ezio asked.

"We don't know for sure, but we assume he has fled to Vale, from what we know he has some affiliation with the white fang, and from recent events we can put two and two together."

* * *

Richard rolled under the assassin's swing; he got back into his stance and prepared for another attack. The assassin grounded his pike, he raised his arms and the snow that was falling gathered into a cluster and turned into a shard of ice. The assassin thrusted his arm forward and the shard hurled towards Richard. He reacted quickly by taking out his bow and drawing a red tipped arrow, he let go and the shard burst on impact with the arrow. From the smoke the assassin jumped in front of Richard. He changed his bow into a sword to block, the two got into a stalemate.

* * *

"So then why don't we just move now if that's the case?" Connor said.

"From what we know the templars haven't made any moves against us in the past few months; it would be unwise if we attacked prematurely." Altair explained.

* * *

Multiple small ice-shards were floating around the assassin, he jabbed his pike forward and the shards flew towards Richard. Richard managed to block a few before one sliced his arm. He rolled out of the way of the projectiles. Richard saw the assassin prepare another wave of shards, he rushed the assassin and quickly swung upwards with his tomahawk. It caught on to the assassin's pike, bringing it to face the sky. The shards all shot upwards and a few seconds later they rained down around the two. Quickly they scrambled away from each other to avoid the barrage of shards. The two were about to clash once more when the ground vigorously shook.

* * *

"No,no,no," Altair mumbled to himself. "The precursor site; it must have been disturbed!"

"What should we do grandmaster!?" an assassin asked.

"Gather your apprentices and any others and get them to the bunker," Altair ordered. All of the assassins bolted out of the council room.

* * *

Richard was outside, the ground was still shaking violently. He looked over to the other assassins all making a mad dash for the cathedral. He heard some of the elder assassins calling out.

"Everyone get to underground bunker!" He heard another call out.

"Watch out! The tower is coming down!"

Richard looked up at the main tower of the cathedral, it slowly began to tilt forward, crumbling and cracking on its way until it finally split in half and fell in front of the main gate. On impact a large cloud of dust came his way. Richard quickly raised his arms in front of his face, shielding him. The cloud blew past Richard at great speed, as quickly as it came it past.

Richard lowered his arms and saw the main gate blocked by rubble and debris. Richard tried to find another way into the HQ. He saw an open widow on the third floor of the cathedral and quickly ran over to the cathedral along with the few assassins still outside. He scaled the rubble and began to climb the building using the forming cracks as help. He looked up and saw a large chunk of granite begin to slide out of the wall. Richard quickly jumped to the side and grabbed on to another ledge. He saw the large piece fall out and down to the base of the building. Richard continued to climb this time aiming for the hole that formed from the granite that had slid out of the wall. He entered the building the second floor as he started moving through the halls he met Connor at the stairs.

"Richard! Quickly we have to move!" Connor yelled.

As Richard ran down the stairs he heard a loud explosion, the part of the stairs he stood on began to crack and he soon found himself falling through them.

"Richard!" Connor shouted as he extended his arm to try to catch Richard. Richard crashed to the ground onto his back, with ringing ears and blurred vision he looked up a hole in the roof and was able to make out a mortar shot hurling down on him. He quickly tried to get up, he managed to get to his feet before the mortar struck several feet behind him. The burst caused him to go crashing out the window into the now forming snow storm. Richard landed in a small bed of snow, all he felt was pain all over his body. He slowly pushed himself up, he could see blood in the snow though he couldn't tell from where on him it was coming from. He looked up into the storm and saw a silhouette slowly growing. Richards first thought was that it must be Connor.

"Connor," Richard attempted to call out, his vision was slowly fading as he blacked out soon after.

He woke up again this time he was covered in snow from the storm, the figure now stood above him. Richard could see a man in a black and red coat, he also saw him cover his mouth with what seemed to be a scarf or handkerchief. Richard cringed at the sight remembering Cyrus all to well.

"Well, another fly escaped the trap," He raised his sword, "good thing I come well prepared." The stranger was about to strike Richard when someone else parried it away. Richard couldn't see who, but he could hear the clashing of swords. Richard could hear a cry of pain and then quick steps running away. After which someone came closer to him.

"Richard, oh god," it was Arno, but Richard could see only his face as he bent down beside him. "Come on" Arno struggled to say as he tried to pick up Richard. He carried him on his shoulder with Richard facing behind.

Richard looked back and could barely make out the cathedral; it was crumbling to the ground still burning. The smoke was still climbing higher towards the sky. Richard could feel himself beginning to black out again, just as he did he could hear Arno say, "come on, we're the last of us."


	27. All Ends are Beginnings

Richard slowly woke up from his sleep. He sat up from the couch he was on and looked around. The room he was in was small, no bigger than an apartment flat. He could see Arno at his desk as usual, not doing much, mainly just contemplating. Richard grew tired of the same thing happening everyday. He knew what was happening outside the hideout. Atlas had been taken over by the White Fang. He wanted to do something to stop them, but Arno said it would be best if he stayed hidden with him. Hiding, the best technique of the assassins, but after doing such a thing for so long it became more of a curse to Richard. He wanted to do something, anything that allowed him to leave, but he listened to Arno, he was more experienced.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Arno said as Richard sat up.

"Its not like we're running out of room," Richard replied quite softly. Arno still heard him though and turned back to his desk.

"Do we have anything to do today?" Richard asked standing up.

"Hide," Arno simply answered.

"Yes, hide, just like we have for the last three years of our lives."

"What do you want from me?" Arno asked.

"I don't want anything from you, I just…"

"Richard we had this discussion before, going out there just means we're going to be hunted," Arno began to reason with Richard.

"Why? Its not like we're getting any closer to stopping them from down here." Richard remarked now standing a few feet behind Arno.

"Richard there's only two of us and an entire army of White Fang, we won't do anything meaningful if we just get ourselves killed."

Richard sighed, "Then why can't we rebuild, the brother hood has been at rock bottom before and we managed to come back and-"

"There hasn't ever been a situation with one assassin and an old man as the only ones left in the creed."

Richard stayed silent from Arno's statement, though he was angered by Arno's claim. He didn't want to stay down here for the rest of his life. He was going to leave, he just needed to plan when.

"What…what would happen if I left?" Richard asked.

"Your not leaving, Arno simply stated.

"And if I did what would you...?" Richard asked.

"Richard we are staying here, If I knew your father at all he would want-"

"Well, you're not my father!" Richard yelled in response, leaving Arno silent.

"No, I'm not… and neither was Connor," Arno got up from his desk and went to the bed in the corner of the room. Richard watched as the old assassin walked over and laid down for a rest. Richard leaned back against the wall and waited.

Richard looked under the couch he slept on and pulled out a small duffle bag. He looked inside and saw his father's robes and a second jacket he had. He was going to leave today; he couldn't stay here. He stuffed his quiver inside and closed the bag. He changed his bow into a sword and sheathed it on his belt with Order and Chaos. He slung the bag on his back vertically and tightened the straps. He took out chaos and checked its magazine, he did the same for order afterward. Once he was finished he turned to walk out the exit of the hideout.

"You really are leaving." He heard before even touching the door.

Richard turned back to see Arno standing a couple feet away from him.

"I can't stay here," Richard began to explain.

"I know," Arno stated walking towards Richard, "and I won't stop you… but you're not gonna survive for long on your own." Arno pulled out a strange looking coin from his pocket. "Take this with you, if you need a place to hide you'll know where to find one." Arno flicked the coin to Richard, who caught it without hesitation. He examined the coin, it had the assassin symbol on one side and the other had an intricate design on it. "Good luck Richard," Arno said.

With that Richard walked out still looking at Arno before he closed the door behind him. Outside was a sewer system that had only a little stream of dirty water flowing. Richard looked to his left and saw the tunnel blocked off by rubble. He turned right and saw the path clear, so he began to walk down it. The sewers were only slightly lit, but Richard was able to see through the tunnel pretty easily thanks to his faunas heritage.

Richard continued to walk down the tunnel as quietly as possible until he came to a ladder leading up to the city. He began to ascend to the surface, he slowly lifted the manhole cover to peek out. He was in an alley way between two buildings. He moved the cover over and climbed out of the sewers. He placed the cover back on and looked around to see if anyone was around. He began to move down the alley out toward the street. He took a peek out and could see white fang members patrolling. He retreated back into the alley and moved towards the other end.

The streets were fairly empty, Richard placed the bag down and opened it. He pulled out his plain white hood and turned it inside out to become black. He switched it with the sweater he was currently wearing, he zipped it closed and rolled up the sleeves to his elbows. He closed the bag and once again he slung the bag on his back and began to stroll down the street. He tried to remain inconspicuous while walking down, all he had to do was find out where in Atlas he was. He occasionally looked up to see the buildings around him. Most had a White Fang banner hanging off them. Some were still in ruins from three years ago.

Dusk was approaching as the sun began to set. Richard turned the corner of the street and saw a patrol walking his way. Richard took off his hood to show his ears, the members seem to be unfazed by his presence. As Richard and the group crossed paths he continued to walk, passing each one calmly.

A member at the back of the group stopped and turned to Richard still walking.

"Hey you!" he called out to him. Richard stopped, but didn't turn. "Its almost curfew, you better start heading back to your home!" He said.

"Yes sir!" Richard replied, and began a fast jog down the street. He turned another corner and hid around the edge. He waited and looked back down the street. He saw the patrol continue to walk away. Richard began to walk to the docks, the sun about halfway down. He continued to move toward the shores, where large rock formations towered over the ocean.

Richard began to move out of the downtown area and more toward the cliffs. He used his height as a view point. Richard looked down at the port. He could see a tugboat currently docked. He continued to scout the land below. He saw someone come out from inside the ship, though he wasn't in a White Fang uniform. Richard couldn't tell his purpose but it seemed he was trying to move quietly around the ship. Richard heard the humming of a jeep coming, he quickly moved into a nearby bush to hide.

He looked through a small opening and saw an armored jeep roll up to the side of the cliff. A squad of White Fang members got out and looked down at the port. They quietly conversed for a few seconds before moving to the steps leading down. Richard saw them descend down and moved back to the ledge to get a look at what they were doing. He saw the man retreat back into the boat. Richard saw the White Fang members continue moving, he didn't know what to think of this situation, but from what he remembered from the patrol earlier the faunas here had a curfew to keep, which meant bad news for the man in the boat. Richard saw the White Fang members reach the bottom of the steps and start moving towards the boat. He followed down the steps, keeping at a distance. Two members stayed posted on the dock next to the boat. the other three went on board. Richard sneaked around and came up to the opposite side. With no real way to get the drop on them, other than getting on the boat, Richard decided to get the jump on them. He jumped into the water under him, feet first and submerged into the blue.

* * *

The two members thought they heard a splash from the other side of the boat.

"Hey John you hear that?" one asked the other.

"I think it came from the other side, one of them might be trying to escaped."

"I'll go take a look around back." The White Fang member began to walk around the boat, with his rifle ready. He kept an eye on the water below him. Slowly he continued to walk all the way until he was at the other end. He pointed his flash light down into the water. Nothing seemed out of place, the ocean waves swayed at a constant pace, crashing against the jagged cliff and wooden posts under him.

"See anything!?" the other member called out.

"No! might of just been a fish or something."

Just as he finished his statement a hand came from under and grabbed his ankle. It quickly swept him off his feet and dragged him into the water, giving him only a short time to let out a yelp.

"Seth!? you there?" The other member called out. "Seth!? answer me!" He called again. "Seth! Respond!" but there was no answer.

* * *

Richard was directly under the second member. Holding his breath he readied his hidden blade and slowly ascended from the water. He quickly emerged and grabbed the member's leg pulling him down. Once in the water Richard made quick work and began to stab the White Fang member a few times in the chest. The member struggled and tried to call out, but his voice was muffled by the water and he soon faded away. Richard released his body and remerged at the docks. He climbed onto the docks, he looked around and didn't see any other members around. He took out chaos in its pistol form and slowly boarded the tug boat. He peeked in through the window on the door, there were two members standing in front of a small group of Faunus.

Richard checked the magazine in Chaos. It was full. Richard loaded and readied himself. He burst through the door and fired at the farthest member. The other one was close enough to pull out his sword and swing at Richard. He weaved away from his first strikes and transformed Chaos into its tomahawk form. The member continued to swing allowing a parry from Richard as he then swept his legs sending him crashing to the ground. With a hard strike, Richard finished off the member. Just as Richard stood straight the last member rushed him from behind, swinging down on Richard. He tried to block the member's attack, but Richard wasn't fast enough as the sword cut his arm and caused him to drop Chaos. Richard grabbed his arm in pain and it was quickly painted in blood. The member went for another strike, but Richard tackled the member to the floor. Acting quickly Richard deployed his hidden blade and stabbed the member in the neck.

Richard stood back up retracting his blade and holding back on to his arm, he looked over to the group of Faunus currently on their knees with their hands tied behind their back. Richard moved towards them, they seemed scared at first, but once Richard began to cut them free they began to calm down. Richard cut loose the last Faunus, a woman with a cat's tail, and as soon as he did she rushed into the other room as quickly as she could. Richard, slightly confused, followed her as the other Faunus began to hug each other, thanking that they were freed. In the other room Richard found the woman tending to the same man he saw when he was scouting. He had some cuts and bruises, no doubt the White Fang members attempted an interrogation on him.

"Are you okay?" Richard asked helping the woman begin to carry the man back into the other room.

"I'll live, thanks to you," the man had a deep but soothing voice. They set the man down for a seat and the woman began tending the man's wounds. Just then a man came rushing through the door.

"George! blimey, what the hell happened here?" He asked.

"Jarred, we...ran into some trouble, but we're all okay, thanks to this young man." George said signaling Richard.

"Jarred," the man said introducing himself.

"I thank you for protecting my family," Jarred said grabbing Richard's hand and shaking it firmly.

"Richard, no problem."

"Is there any way I can repay you?" Jarred asked.

"Actually, I'm trying to get out of the city, like I assume you are, have enough space for another." Richard asked.

"Of course," He said letting go and looking down at his hand that had some blood on it. "And we have a first aid kit if you'd like to…patch yourself up."

"I appreciate it," Richard replied.

"Alright people we're still a go, get to your stations," one of the other Faunus told the group as they began to disperse.

"Richard, mind helping me out?" Jarred asked, grabbing the legs of one of the White Fang members on the ground. Richard moved to the other end of the body and began to help Jarred pick it up. They moved outside, approaching the rim of the boat they tossed the body over board and into the water. They did the same for the other two before Jarred went up to the helm of the ship after. Richard went back inside to get his armed wrapped in a bandage. The ship slowly moved away from the dock as the group set sailed for the City of Vale.


	28. Unknown Heritage

**AN: **Sorry for a late upload, busy week for N204.

* * *

Richard was in the interior of the tugboat getting his arm wrapped. He was assisted by one of the group members, a young woman with a slim cat tail. Their confrontation was mostly silent as she only gave short stares towards Richard as she wrapped his arm. Richard paid no attention to this; his main focus was getting to Vale. Unknowingly though, Richard was giving her a blank stare.

"My name is Jade, Jade Mitchel, if you were wondering," she said shyly as she continued wrapping.

Richard snapping out of it replied, "sorry if I was making you uncomfortable." An awkward pause followed the small exchange of dialog.

"I was wondering…" Jade began, but seemed to stop herself.

"Go on," Richard said coaxing her.

"Why are you trying to get to Vale so badly, that you helped us?" she asked.

Richard thought for a moment before answering, "There's someone that's been waiting for me for 3 years, it's time I said hi." Jade seemed accepting of the answer. Richard thought for a second. "What about you?" Jade looked up from her work as she finished tying the last knot. "Why are you and your family heading to Vale?" Richard asked again.

"Vale's the safest place to be, with Vacuo in ruins and Mistral at war-"

"Wai-wai-wait, go back a bit, Vacuo in ruins?" Richard questioned.

"About two years ago the White Fang attacked the provinces of Vacuo, and sacked the city and towns. Now it's nothing more than a hiding place for rats," Jade explained.

"And Mistral? What's going on there?" Richard continued.

"Mistral has become the main battleground for the White Fang and remaining council of Remnant, but with so much fighting, the cities have been placed under martial law, and they're not really welcoming to run away Faunus like us."

"So, Vale is the safest place to be?"

"If you're not a huntsman that can survive the wilderness, Vale is where you wanna be."

"And what about the huntsmen, are they still around?"

"Most have become generals for the army; they're the most talented fighters, so they easily outrank a normal soldier."

"Ironwood's Atlesian army? Doesn't it consist of robot knights?"

"Not after the malfunction they had after the earthquake of Atlas, they targeted and killed hundreds of Faunus, everywhere. Also Ironwood doesn't command the army now, he stepped down after the incident."

"Then who's the commander of the army?"

"Ozpin: the previous headmaster of beacon academy."

Richard leaned back in his seat; he had to let all this information process. "Excuse me, I need some fresh air," he said getting up and walking out of the interior of the tug boat.

Outside the sun had already set and the moon shined in the distance. So much had happened in the past three years and Richard was clueless. Huntsmen as generals? Vacuo sacked? Ozpin...commander. Richard was even more unsure of what to do. What could he do? Besides, return to her. Richard leaned on the railing at the front of the boat; he took out the coin Arno had given him. He stared at the assassin's symbol, though it seemed almost meaningless to him now. Should he even consider himself still part of a forgotten creed? Richard still remembered Altair's teaching 'nothing is true, everything is permitted' it's what changed the creed according to Connor. This teaching didn't have much meaning to Richard. He wondered for a moment, a new creed would be possible if he could find people. The only problem is who and if any random person could be trusted at all. Richard let out a yawn, he was certainly tired. He put the coin back in his pocket and went back inside. The first room was empty, Jade had left. Richard lied down on one of the benches inside; he put his bag under his head and tried to sleep.

The trip took some time. It took a week to get to open ocean. Richard found himself interacting more with the people that were running away from Atlas. He talked to them and learned their names, George's Wife was Jennifer, and George had gone against the norm in their marriage, he had Jennifer's family name passed on rather than his own, he didn't tell Richard what it was. Their son was Jarred Maron, he was nice and always helping his father. Richard met Jade's parents, Carol and Jack, as well as her brother, Sapphire. A weird name at first, but it was defiantly unique. Jade's grandmother, Scarlet, also accompanied them. Richard passed the trip time by talking to them, asking questions about what has happened, and what is being done to fix it. They were open to Richard, he was treated as family, almost naturally.

One day George was outside looking at the sea alone, Richard decided to join the aging man. He walked up next to him and leaned on the rail as he did.

George taking notice asked, "Nice weather today, don't ch'a think?"

"Yes, its nice and clear, not a cloud in site," Richard replied.

The two stared quietly at the horizon. After some time Richard kick-started a conversation.

"George, do you have any brothers?" Richard asked.

"Oh ya, a sister and a brother, my brother was Ruben and my sister is Scarlet."

"Scarlet, as in, Jade's grandmother Scarlet?"

"Yup, she and I have been stuck together in Atlas as long as we can remember."

"What about Ruben, where is he?"

"Ruben, eh, he disappeared one day, all he left my mother was a note that said he would be in Vale, but we never knew where he went exactly."

Richard looked down to think. "That was until he had a son," George stated.

"A son?"

"When my mother died, Ruben returned with a child by his side, his name was…Xavier, I think, I'm not quite sure, as soon as he was here, he left."

"Xavier," Richard mumbled to himself quietly. Just then Jarred came out with what seemed to be a shorten cloak in his hands.

"What's that Jarred?" George asked.

"An old cloak I found before we left, I thought it would be good to have, I was thinking maybe we would give this to Richard as a token of thanks."

"I'd say that's a great idea," George responded.

"No, no it's fine," Richard declining the offer as respectfully as he could.

"Come on, take it," George insisted.

Jarred handed over the black cloak to Richard. The first notable feature was a howling wolf in front of the moon printed on in white. Richard swung it around himself, he connected the straps in the front and then let his arms fall back to his sides to let the cloak cover him.

"Say, isn't that your Uncle Ruben's cloak he wore when he visited?" George asked Jarred.

"I think so; I found it in an old box in your closet."

"I'm guessing this was his symbol then," Richard intervened pointing at the wolf on the side of his left elbow.

"Oh ya, Ruben was a Huntsmen, I'm guessing that's why he left so quickly." George answered. "But, if I remember correctly his son had a paw as his symbol, I think."

"You're not losing your memory are you pa?" Jarred asked in a joking manner.

"Oh if only you knew your mother when she was young, she had the memory of an elephant I tell ya."

"Not to break the mood or anything, but could you tell me more about Ruben's son possibly, were there any other features on his symbol." Richard once again interrupted.

"Eh, some lines surrounded the paw I believe," George said scratching his head.

"Wait a moment," Richard told the two before reentering the boat's interior. He looked around and went to his bag on the bench. He took out the jacket with his symbol on the back. If what Richard believed was true then he had found out something huge. He came back outside, jacket in hand, and approached Jarred and George.

"Was his symbol something like this?" Richard asked extending his jacket to show his symbol.

"Oh, that's it, a wolf paw with some lines on the side and one at the bottom," George pointed out.

"Where did you get this?" Jarred asked.

"It's my father's symbol, it was passed to me when he died," Richard explained.

"Wait, if this is your symbol now, then…"

"Xavier Wulf was my father," Richard stated.

"Wulf…" George stated, causing Jarred and Richard to turn to him. "Wulf was supposed to be the name I kept, but instead, as you know, I had Jennifer's family name passed on…"


	29. Arrival

"Alright! Everyone raise your pints, once more to our long lost cousin and nephew, to Richard!" Jarred proclaimed to everyone sitting around the table.

"To Richard!" They all responded clinking their cups together. Richard sat awkwardly at the end of the table, he watched everyone enjoy themselves, but he was still trying to believe for himself that these people were his family.

"Oi, come on, and have a drink why don't ya?" George happily said patting Richard on the back.

"No thanks," Richard replied.

"If you *hiccup* say so" George said before downing the drink he had in his hand.

Richard watched as the group enjoyed their drinks and began chatting amongst each other. He still didn't know what to think about his family, he never really knew his own father, Connor was the closest to any form of family Richard had. Connor, though, was more of what would be known as a mentor, but he was defiantly a caring one. Richard got up and walked out of the interior. He went out to the back of the boat and leaned on the rail, looking up at the setting. It wasn't anything new for Richard to move away for a while to find some quiet; it was natural for him and the moon to meet. He remembered back when he originally left the Homestead, those nights he spent on the rooftops just looking up. Back at Beacon he spent most of his nights with Ruby, he remembers her soothing touch as her hands ran through his hair. Ruby was always there for Richard, she changed his perspective of things. Yet, he left all so suddenly, he left her. Richard was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't realize he had company.

"Not a fan of drinking?" she asked.

"No, I never got into it you could say," Richard replied turning to her. There was a short silence between them as Richard turned back to see the moon.

"What's on your mind?" Jade asked.

"Just, remembering some things," He once again replied.

"Who is she?" Jade began to interrogate.

"What?"

"Who is she? You're obviously are thinking of someone."

"Obvious huh?"

"Women's intuition" Jade explained.

"It's nothing important," Richard shrugged off.

"C'mon, you can tell me," Jade urged, "we're family now."

"We've only known that for a short time."

"Regardless, we're still family, and by the looks of it we're the only family you got left."

Richard turned to her and looked Jade straight in the eyes. She was serious, no matter if this was small talk or not, trust was the main issue here.

He let out a small sigh, "Well, her name was, is, Ruby…" Richard began. Jade seemed to ease off and had a more caring mood. "She's a huntress, or I think she still is."

"So, she's a general now?"

"I think," Richard gave an unsure answer.

"Well, what do you know about her?"

"She was the light in my life you could say, before her I was a complete, what's the word?"

"Loner, castaway, no one ever talked to you?"

"More like what you would see as a cold hearted, self kept, person that never wanted to talk to anyone."

"And what changed that?"

"She did, something about her, it was like I found someone who didn't care what I did and still appreciated who I was and what I was trying to do."

"She was perfect." Jade stated.

Richard turned back around and looked out to the sea, "Yeah, perfect." Jade joined leaning on the rail next to him.

"Well, you might just see her again one day," she told him.

"Trust me, if I do, when I do I'll make up for being gone for three years."

"Oh you know, unless there's already someone else she found."

"Shut up," Richard said jokingly to Jade and giving a light punch to her shoulder. The cousins gave a chuckle to their jokes as the moon continued to move across the sky.

"I AM THE SEA KING!" a shout came from inside the boat along with a

loud thud. Richard and Jade turned around to find Sapphire face down in the doorway. Loud laughter followed as Jade covered her face with her palm at the sight of him.

Richard gave a slight laugh and asked, "I'm guessing he can't hold his liquor?"

"He's lost about twenty times or so to uncle George in a drink off," Jade stated.

"Just another nice family reunion."

"Oh, they can be much worse." Jade moved over to her fallen brother.

"Come on sea king let's go," Jade said picking up Sapphire and carrying him back inside.

"I'll order the sharks on you," Sapphire slurred out as the door closed behind them. Richard gave a smile and turned back to the ocean.

"Just another family reunion," he stated to himself.

About three days later the group managed to make it to the port of Vale, but Faunus are not so openly accepted. As soon as the ship docks a military squadron boards the ship and begins an immediate search for any thing that could be used as a means of terrorism. They had the nine of them line up and searched them one by one. Things went smoothly until it was Richard's turn.

"Next," the Sergeant ordered his troop currently finishing their shake down of Jade, and moved on to Richard. Instantly he took out his two side arms and handed them over to the Sergeant. He continued his search and found nothing else.

"All done sir," the troop stated as he moved back from the line. The Sergeant then moved in front of Richard.

"Where'd ya get these?" He asked trying to intimidate him.

"I built them," Richard simply stated with no hesitation.

"Really?" The Sergeant doubtfully said, "And I suppose you expect me to believe you?"

"It's the truth," Richard blankly stated.

"Truth," the commander said mockingly, "Anders! Detain him." A soldier went behind Richard and kicked under his knee, causing him to fall. Immediately the soldier grabbed Richard's wrists and cuffed them together. Richard attempted to look up into the Sergeants eyes to use him semblance, but once he began to move the hilt of a gun smashed into the back of his head.

"That should make him easier to handle, take away him boys," the Sergeant ordered.

"He doesn't mean any harm, he's innocent," Jade began to vouch on Richard's behalf.

"You stay right where you are unless you want everyone here to be detained as well," the Sergeant said looking Jade in the eyes. His intimidation strategy worked as Jade was silenced on the spot. Right after the Sergeant stepped off the ship as the rest of the troops continued their search. He met with a figure that was standing nearby, overlooking the shake down of the boat.

"What's the status on these fugitives?"

"A group of nine Faunus in total, eight identified as cat Faunus, the other was a dog of some sort."

"And their cargo?"

"Mainly comprised of food and fuel for their trip, but we did find weapons on the dog Faunus, I had him detained and taken to the holding cells."

"Any association with the White Fang?"

"No direct association, but I'm not so sure about this." The Sergeant held up Richard's sweater with his symbol on the back.

"Might be a branch of their army, secret service of some sort."

"Calm down Sergeant I know this symbol, anything else that you identified as his belongings?"

"These perhaps," the Sergeant handed over the pair of pistols, "We also found a bag full of dust tipped arrows, a bow, and some articles of clothing."

"Have these things brought to the interrogation room; I'll be there shortly,"

"Yes ma'am!" the sergeant replied and walked back to check on the search.

Meanwhile Richard was only semi conscious, his vision was blurred as he saw various frames pop in and out of sight. He kept walking though, being pushed by the soldiers currently escorting him. Their destination was a small holding cell somewhere Richard hadn't taken notice of. They pushed him inside and locked the entrance behind him, just as Richard got up.

"Hey, what am I being held here for!?" Richard demanded from the two troops.

"For suspicion of being a part of the White Fang, and for suspected acts of terrorism," one of the soldiers answered.

"That's it? You're keeping me here for assumption made by your paranoid sergeant?"

"You're being kept here so you don't kill anyone," the other soldier simply stated.

Richard sighed, "Oh no my one true intention has been revealed, why don't you just strike me down now for being a heretic?" Richard mocked at the soldier standing in front of him.

The soldiers shrugged it off and walked away, though Richard could tell they didn't take his acting very kindly. Richard took a seat on the floor and leaned back into the corner, attempting to nap.

A loud thumping woke Richard as a new pair of guards approached his cell.

"Rise and shine princess, the commander wants to see you,"

Richard reluctantly got up and followed the two guards out of his cell and down a corridor further into the building. He was thinking of what to do, whether he should make a move now and try to escape, or let this whole thing play out and hope that he doesn't get executed. Another thought ran through his mind, the thought of his family back on the boat, if they would suffer at all.

The guards opened a door at the end of the corridor and pushed Richard inside, with his hands still cuffed behind his back. The room was simple with a table and two chairs at the center. Richard slowly walked towards them and took a seat at one end of the table. After a few seconds the door on the other side of the room slid open revealing a blonde haired woman walking in.

"So the big bad wolf is back?"

* * *

**Clion818: BOOM! Cliffhanger, new update in two weeks Clion out. PEACE!**

**N204: Peace out girl scouts.**


	30. The Calm Before the Storm

Yang looked different from the last time Richard remembered, she was wearing a black coat with red lining. There were gold shoulder plates and four buttons that closed at the stomach area. The coat hung at her sides showing her white and black pants underneath. Along with that she wore grey and gold gauntlets and black boots with gold accents. One last notable feature was an armband on her right arm that had her symbol on it.

"Well you've definitely change," Richard stated.

After which a guard smacked his head onto the table, "don't speak unless spoken to." The guard aggressively ordered.

"Ease off Jenkins," Yang ordered the guard.

Without hesitation he let go of Richard and stood back at attention, "Yes ma'am."

Yang moved to her side of the table across from Richard and took a seat.

"So, caught with a group of stowaways hmm?" Yang teased.

"They're not stowaways, they're refugees, and they were trying to escape from Atlas," Richard began to correct.

"I know, I know," Yang calmed him.

"Then…then what will happen to them?" Richard asked showing concern.

"Nothing, they checked out alright, no terrorist plots have been unveiled…yet."

"And that's supposed to mean…?"

"Well you can't be sure, after all we are at war and sides tend to change."

"And I'm here because you don't trust me after being gone for three years, am I right?"

"No," Yang gave a simple answer. Richard was befuddled by her answer, but what came next confused him even more. "Parker, take off the suspect's cuffs," Yang told the other guard. He did so without question and Richard's hands were let free.

"Both of you leave, lock the doors behind you, and if you wouldn't mind turning off the cameras that would be great," Yang once again ordered. The two guards left the room one out of each exit, and Richard could hear them lock the doors. Meanwhile Yang just gave and intense look at him as she seemed to be waiting until the cameras were presumably off. Still sitting in the chair Richard looked up into the corner of the room to see the security camera moved to be facing down and the red light turn off.

What happened next wasn't in Richard's favor, at all. Yang immediately threw the table aside and with massive force, punched Richard in the gut sending him, in his chair, back against the wall. The pain was excruciating to Richard as he fell on his side curled up.

"Okay…I deserved…that one," Richard stated groaning in pain.

"Hell yeah you did," Yang said cracking her knuckles while standing over Richard. Yang then gave a strong kick to Richard's side causing him to groan some more.

"And...that was for?" Richard asked.

"Not telling us you were an assassin right away." Yang gave another kick to Richard. Richard out of breath motioned for Yang to give another reason.

"That was for saving your ass on the train." Yang then gave another kick.

"That was because I'm in a bad mood."

"Right…we done here?" Richard said coughing out a little blood.

Yang went back to her chair and sat with her legs crossed.

"Yeah, I'm done."

"Great," Richard said turning to lie on his back. Without any more time to rest Richard felt another kick hit his side.

"And that's for not apologizing yet," Yang stated.

"Right, sorry….okay are we done for real now?" Richard desperately asked. As a response Yang extended her arm out to him. Richard hesitated at first but soon after grabbed on as she pulled him up to his feet.

"Now let's get you patched up," Yang said in a happier tone.

"Woop dee do" Richard sarcastically cheered as Yang knocked on the exit.

The guard opened the door and stood aside at attention as Yang walked out.

"Parker, get me the suspect's belongings we're done here," Yang ordered the guard.

"Yes ma'am," with that the guard went into a room and came out with Richard's bag in hand.

"Let's go," Yang motioned to Richard. He followed still holding on to his gut. Yang took him to an infirmary area; it was small but housed the necessary equipment for wounds and illnesses.

"Got a patient for you doc, clumsy guy fell down some stairs." Yang informed the nurse currently looking at some files.

"Well let's see what the damage is, go ahead and take a seat," the nurse told Richard. He moved over to bed in the room and had a seat on it.

"Right, so where does it hurt?" the nurse asked Richard.

"Uhh, I'd say my lower left rib," Richard answered. The nurse placed her hand on the area causing Richard to jump a little from the pain. She moved her hand around and watched as Richard clenched his fists at the edge of the bed.

"Are you sure all you did was fall down some stairs?" The nurse asked.

Richard looked over at Yang sitting down, she gave him a glare.

"Yup, hehe clumsy me." Richard told the nurse.

"All I can give you for now are some pain killers, if it keeps up come back to me, your rib could be fractured or possibly broken." The nurse said handing Richard a small container.

"Got it," Richard confirmed. The nurse then handed him a bottle of water, Richard opened the container and took two pills along with some water.

"Thanks doc," Yang said standing up from her seat.

"Anytime commander, now if you'll excuse me I still need to organize patient files for Doctor Brown," the nurse stated grabbing the papers from before and exiting the room.

"Now why don't you tell me what happened in Atlas before we see her," Yang told Richard.

"Well, should I start from the beginning?" Richard asked getting off of the bed.

"That'd be nice, c'mon we'll walk and talk." Yang said walking out of the room. Richard followed and walked beside her as he began to explain.

"When I disappeared three years ago, it was for a council held by the assassins, one where all of them met to discuss world events, and the creed's course of action for the rest of the year. But the earthquake happened, and our headquarters was bombarded, I don't know by who but they almost killed me. I was injured from the blasts when Arno, a friend of mine, saved me. After that Arno took me to a hideout underground Atlas. I saw firsthand what the White Fang did to the place, they changed it into their personal capital."

"Right, now how did you get here? And why so concerned with the other Faunus on the boat?" Yang questioned.

"I decided to leave the hideout despite Arno's warnings, when I did my plan was to come here, to Vale, but I needed a way of transportation. That's when I found the group trying to leave, they were discovered though. They would have been executed on the spot if I hadn't intervened. They offered me a seat on their boat as payment and I took it. It was the weeks on the ship I spent, when I found out that they were actually my relatives. My great-grandfather had married a cat Faunus, and from there our family tree split between them and my grandfather."

"Family huh? That's why you're worried," Yang said sounding more earnest than before.

"I never knew until they gave me this," Richard pulled out the shortened cloak from his bag.

"This was my grandfathers, he left with them by accident, they saw it fit to return it to me." Richard said putting it on.

"It suits you, so you ready to meet her?" Yang asked.

"Her? I'm guessing you mean Ruby," Richard asked. Yang nodded.

"I don't even know what I'm gonna say, it's been so long, she's just as mad as you were I imagine."

"We'll it's hard to tell, she keeps to herself some more now, being second in command and all."

"Ruby's second in command?" Richard asked.

"You don't seem surprised," Yang pointed out.

"I guess that's cause I'm not, she was always devoted to being the best she could be."

"Well that got her to where she is now, she didn't let anything get in her way," Yang began to explain.

Richard began to think now, he had to know what to say when he saw Ruby. There was no way for him to avoid the guilt he would most likely feel for being gone so long. He'd feel even worse for the last engagement they had, when he promised to see her.

Richard was spaced out in thought; he didn't realize Yang had been leading him through a militarized section of Vale. They came to a building near the south district, Yang walked up the stairs leading to the door. She knocked.

"It's open!" A voice on the other side called out. Yang glanced back at Richard and motioned him to follow as she opened the door.

"How's the Northern front on Mistral going?" Yang asked as she walked in.

"Troops are holding the line, though I still think controlling that lake would give us an advantage for transporting troops safely across the front."

Richard walked in and saw Ruby once again after three years, she was wearing the same uniform as Yang, to Richard's surprise she didn't have her cape on. Ruby was hunched over at a table in the center of the room examining the maps projected on it.

"Yang, if you came to ask about another recruit I already told you, our main companies are comprised of twenty to thirty other specialized soldiers and you've already maxed out on…" Ruby cut herself off when she looked up at Richard. An awkward silence filled the room as the only things exchanged were stares.

"Whelp, you two get settled, I'll be in my quarters if you need me," and with that Yang walked out and closed the door behind her.

The room stayed quiet as the two old friends continued to stare at on one another, waiting for the other to say something first.

Richard was about to begin, "I...

* * *

**Clion818: Cliffhanger Part 2: The Cliffinging!**

**N204: I love this chapter.**


	31. Reunited

**N204: 5 months of planning and 45 minutes of execution, all for just one scene. And what do you get: RUBY ROSE!**

* * *

"I-" Richard was cut off by a hand smacking him across his face. That hand was from Ruby.

"That's for leaving," Ruby explained sternly.

Just as Richard was about to cover his face, he was quickly met with a surprise he definitely wasn't expecting. Ruby had wrapped her arms around his neck, and he was taken back as he felt her soft lips press against his own. Instantly his mind was filled with confusion and yet happiness also. Thoughts were zooming in and out, questions without answers, an internal struggle, and then, he calmed down. He closed his eyes and let the next few seconds pass with ease. His mind became blank as he didn't care about anything else in this moment. When it ended, when Ruby pulled back, it lingered with him, the feeling of it. The two faced each other once more, but this time in a less intense nature, it seemed natural to them. Richard only had one question as reality kicked back in.

"What was that for then?"

"That was for coming back," Ruby said in relief.

Richard gave a smile, "I still have to explain myself don't I?"

"Oh you know it," Ruby said.

* * *

"So now here I am," Richard ended his story.

"You've had quiet the trip," Ruby pointed out.

"Well, that's my side what's been going on while I was gone?"

"You want the short or long version?"

"I don't want any details skipped."

Ruby moved back over to the table in the room, she began tapping and swiping on its surface opening various files on it.

"Three years ago Atlas experienced a major earthquake, as you know. It was a few weeks later when the White Fang marched in and basically took over Atlas as easily as taking over a ghost town. No military to fight back, no government to keep the order, and the White Fang showed no mercy."

Ruby pulled up a video file showing a lineup of White Fang members aiming at some of their prisoners standing blind folded in front of a wall. It played for a few seconds, showing them being executed.

"Why was there no one to stop them? This is why." Another video popped up, this one though seemed like it was from a robot's camera as it had a set user interface. The outline of it started green but a red window appeared reading "OBJECTIVE UPDATE…

EXECUTION ORDER, TARGET…

READING…

ALL FAUNUS…

ACQUIRING TARGETS…

TARGETS FOUND"

Ruby fast forwarded to a scene that showed the streets of Vale, it showed a group of Faunus running away while they were being targeted by the machine. It soon began to fire its rifle at the group hitting two of them. After which the camera had appeared to fall over and the screen popped up another red window.

"SYSTEM ERROR…

CONNECTION…

FAIL"

The video ended with that.

"We did the best we could, but many Faunus still fell victim to this incident,"

"How did this happen?" Richard asked.

"We don't know who, but someone had managed to upload a virus into all their command servers at once, how they did it we don't know either. It would have required a transmitter with access to the Schnee dust Co. servers to bypass their fire wall as well.

"Continue…" Richard said moving on.

"After we managed to either destroy them or deactivate them, many Faunus began to feel unsafe, and that's when the White Fang took advantage, promising protection to all Faunus that followed them. They used their occupation of Atlas as an example of their power, and most of the Faunus believed them as they tried to leave Vale, Vacuo, and Mistral."

"That gave them more power then."

"Right, then a year later they showed what they were capable of, Vacuo was a lost cause by the time word got to Vale. The city was sacked, defensive walls destroyed, any resources taken, they didn't kill everyone though. They also left the city alone after that, but Vacuo probably won't be half the kingdom it was even if we managed to deal with the White Fang."

"So what's going down in Mistral then?"

"After Vacuo they set their sights on Mistral, we knew they were coming, but we underestimated their numbers. They almost managed to get to the main city before we pulled a counter attack and pushed them back to the kingdom's boarders. Now they've post in the same position for a year, everyone's questioning why they haven't sent another wave after they were so close."

"And that leaves Vale as the last truly safe place."

"It's no utopia, but it's where we come back to when we need a rest."

"How are you planning on driving them out of Mistral or Atlas for that matter?"

"Our focus is Mistral, but that's all I can tell you…for now. Unless you plan on joining the Combined Remnant Emancipating Effort to Defend."

"Wai-wai-wait, you named your military…creed?"

"Anything wrong with that?"

"Just…who came up with that?"

"I did," Ruby answered, "is there a problem?" She glared at Richard.

"No, no, its fine, I just thought jamr would be a better name,"

"Jamr? What would that stand for?"

"Eh, don't worry about it, it was a stupid idea anyway."

(If you know what JAMR would stand for you get a cookie -N204)

"So if you want me to join then where do you want me to sign up?" Richard asked.

"I think spec ops would be the best place for you."

"Spec ops? What do they do?" Richard asked.

"Oh, recon, stealth force, rescues, and occasionally some valuable target take down."

"So, you want me to join this…Assassin's Creed?"

"Well when you say it like that it sounds stupid."

"Spec op's creed?"

"Just Spec ops are fine."

"Alright then," Richard assured her.

"Speaking of assassins I have something for you," Ruby said rolling up her right sleeve. She revealed the hidden blade that Richard had given to her. She began taking it off.

"Here," she said, "you'll need it more than me."

"Ruby, this is yours to keep" Richard said softly pushing it back.

"You gave it to me so the assassins wouldn't hunt me down…you're not going to do that…are you?"

Richard was silenced from Ruby's remark. He simply took the hidden blade from her and stayed quiet.

He let out a sigh, "So, when do I start?"

"Hold up, you still need to be certified," Ruby informed.

"Certified?" Richard asked. "And where does that happen?"

"You'll see," Ruby smiled devilishly, "follow me." Ruby lead Richard back outside of the building, some time had passed from when Richard arrived in Vale. The sun was somewhat close to setting as Ruby and Richard walked across the base to another larger building, one with the Beacon Academy symbols on it.

"You still haven't told me what I have to do to be certified," Richard stated as they walked in.

"It's a surprise," Ruby stated.

They came into a room that was overlooking a much larger arena below it.

"Take a look at who you're going up against," Ruby pointed below.

Richard took a look and saw a figure surrounded by ten others. Once he focused he recognized the one standing in the center, it was Weiss. Her outfit had changed, she was wearing a short cape on her right shoulder that was armored. Her combat skirt seemed to hold some upgrades, and she seemed taller from a distance.

The recruits formed a circle around Weiss attempting to overwhelm her with their numbers. The commander, though, wasn't worried at all with the odds at hand; in fact they were practically in favor. The recruits waited, no one was willing to make the first move. That was until a battle cry could be heard from one of the recruits behind Weiss. He charged with all his strength, holding his sword high. As he grew closer he pulled it down with all his might, only to be deflected by Weiss's rapier. The kid stumbled back, not expecting to be parried. Just as he recuperated himself he was instantly sent soaring across the arena by a heavy kick from Weiss. All the other recruits watched in awe as their fellow trainee was just defeated in the first ten seconds of actual combat.

Three other recruits took their shot at the commander. Each sprinted toward her from a different angle attempting to receive the upper hand.

The one currently in front of Weiss was the first to engage in combat as he clenched his mace and swung horizontally. Weiss however ducked under easily and swung Myrtenaster to cut down his shins. This forced him onto his knees and as soon as he hit the ground a strong force sent him flying up as Weiss kneed him in the chin.

The other trainee charged as the second stopped hesitant of his attack. The one still charging Weiss came from behind and lunged his sword towards her back only to miss. Weiss had done a quick turn around and then made a short jump in the air as she then kicked the recruit's head to the side sending him sliding into the ground. The recruit that hesitated in the beginning motioned to the others to assist him. Two others stood behind him and the group began a three man frontal assault. Weiss turned the dust chamber of Myrtenaster and pointing its edge down slamming it into the ground causing large icicle shards to shoot their way towards the three knocking them all back.

The remaining four recruits began an organized attack as two leaped into the air and used their weapons to speed toward her as the other two charged on the ground. Weiss pulled out her rapier and turned the dust cartridge once more. She held Myrtenaster vertically as a clock appeared on the ground and began turning faster and faster until it disappeared. After that, several glyphs surrounded her and the other trainees. In a matter of seconds Weiss jumped between the recruits off of each glyph returning to her original spot as the four fell down defeated.

As soon as the last recruit hit the floor Ruby turned to a CREED member sitting at a nearby desk.

"Time?" She asked.

"42.0 seconds ma'am," He answered.

"Huh, new record," She stated.

"What was her old record?" Richard asked.

"42.374 seconds, so how would you feel training under Weiss?"

"Ecstatic," Richard sarcastically answered.

* * *

**Clion818: Note to self: never post an update chapter, ever.**


	32. Initiation

Once the last recruit limped his way out of the arena Ruby and Richard entered.

"Think you still got some fight left in ya?" Ruby asked greeting Weiss.

"And you are?" Weiss glared at Richard.

"It's me Richard, Richard Kenway," Richard answered.

"The Richard Kenway I knew died three years ago in an earthquake," Weiss stated coldly.

"Well, I'm just gonna head back to the observation deck, you two just start whenever you're ready," Ruby said as she slipped back through the gate of the arena.

A short silence filled the arena as the gate closing left an echo throughout its walls. Weiss only exchanged a stare at him as the two stood still.

"You're right you know," Richard stated.

"About what?" Weiss now questioned.

"About Richard _Kenway_ dying in Atlas three years ago," Richard explained.

"_Really_ now?" Weiss doubted.

"I've seen what the White Fang have done first hand, I know what you fight for, and I know the mistakes I've made," Richard began to elaborate.

"Then you know I'm not going easy on you," Weiss warned as she got into her fighting stance.

Richard changed Shadow Striker into its sword form and unsheathed Chaos and switched it into its tomahawk form.

With a flash of white Weiss zoomed right in front of Richard with her fist meeting his stomach. The impact sent Richard a few feet back as he grabbed his stomach to endure the pain. Richard let out a sigh, 'Here we go again,' he thought to himself. He got back into his normal stance, but when he looked up Weiss had moved from her position. Richard quickly looked up to see Weiss already hurling down towards him. Richard barely managed to jump back to dodge the attack. Weiss's recovery was quick as she instantly was able to bounce off the floor and lunge at Richard with her rapier.

Richard was beginning to get caught off guard already, he was used to Ruby's speed three years ago, but since then he hasn't sparred with any of team RWBY. Weiss had definitely sped up from before, now he could only imagine what Ruby's speed at this point would be like. He couldn't think for too long as Weiss charged him once again, he managed to bring his sword up to deflect Myrtenaster. Weiss shot passed him creating a few sparks as their swords scrapped each others.

Richard quickly turned around to prepare for the next attack. Weiss turned around and turned Myrtenaster's revolver, she then thrusted it forward as five projectiles shot towards Richard. Richard changed Chaos into its pistol form. He started firing at the projectiles, trying to hit them mid-air, He managed to hit one as it burst into a cloud of smoke. Richard continued to fire and managed to score another hit until the clip had finally emptied. Richard rolled out of the way to avoid getting hit by the other projectiles. They barely missed as they shot passed him, hitting the wall behind him he saw as they froze the wall in ice.

Quickly returning to the fight at hand Richard once again entered combat with Weiss as she once again rushed him to get the upper hand. Richard needed to think of a plan and quickly, he switched Chaos back into its tomahawk form and managed to redirect Weiss's lunge to miss. Weiss swung her sword around to slash from the other side, but Richard used shadow striker to guide her swing over him to miss. Richard attempted to strike back with a swing to Weiss's side with Chaos. Weiss brought Myrtenaster close enough to block that attack. Richard went for another strike with Shadow Striker only to be knocked back.

Richard retreated a bit before he threw Chaos at Weiss. Weiss brought up a light blue glyph in front of her, when Chaos made contacted it bounced off and fell to the ground. Weiss brought down her glyph and when she did two red tipped arrows landed at her feet. She looked up to see Richard drawing back a volley of three arrows each now with a different colored tip. Richard released the arrows as the shot towards Weiss, once landed in front of her, another Weiss cut in mid air, and the last shot passed missing. Weiss retaliated by once again turning Myrtenaster's revolver and shooting several projectiles at him. Richard began to strafe to the left as he kept moving to avoid getting hit from Weiss's shots and continued to fire his arrows hitting the ground around her, but not exploding.

As the two continued to takes shots at each other Richard was about to fire another arrow when he reached back at his quiver, but all his arrows were depleted. Weiss taking advantage quickly dashed towards Richard. He only just managed to switch Shadow Striker into its sword form. Richard had both hands on his sword since he had thrown Chaos earlier. Richard stayed defensive as he redirected or blocked each of Weiss's jabs or swings at him.

Richard blocked another swing from Weiss and after which he rolled over Weiss to get on the other side of her. He quickly attempted to get a hit in, but Weiss blocked her blind spot quickly. Richard now moved back to being defensive as he stepped back with every one of Weiss's strikes. Weiss took a step back and made a powerful lunge forward knocking Richard back several feet and causing him to roll over on his stomach. Weiss relaxed a bit as she saw Richard slowly try to raise himself. He held his hand behind his back as he did so.

"I have to say, I expected more for some reason," Weiss said as she was about to sheath Myrtenaster.

"Oh come on now heiress, you think I'm giving up already?" Richard said as he pulled himself up to rest on his knee.

"Give up or not, you'll need to outsmart your enemy to win," Weiss coldly stated.

"Who says I haven't?"

Weiss gave an intrigued look at Richard as she tried to think what he could've been talking about. Then she had a sudden realization, none of the arrows Richard shot exploded, she looked down around her and saw that she was surrounded by dust tipped arrow of all sorts.

Richard brought his hand around him, Order was in it and shaking furiously as it was fully charged. Richard aimed and let go of the trigger as quickly as possible. Time seemed to slow down as both Richard and Weiss watched as the bullet traveled across the arena heading toward a red tipped arrow. What seemed to take an entire minute to occur was followed by a huge explosion followed by another and another as a chain reaction began to go off blowing dust and fire and lightning all over the arena.

Richard was still kneeling down as a huge gust of wind blew towards him. He struggled to hold his ground, but it pushed him back sending him rolling once again, this time he landed on his back. Several seconds later the arena cleared up showing burn marks on the floor and walls and a bit of smoke rising. Richard leaned up after everything cleared up. As he did he saw Weiss move to stand over him, he pointed Order as Weiss pointed Myrtenaster down towards him. The two stared at each other for a minute or so waiting. Richard saw as Weiss's cloths had received some soot on them taking away their white shine. Richard, then, finally broke the silence as he pulled the trigger to Order, but it only greeted them with a click as its magazine was empty.

"Oops," Richard said nonchalantly as he lowered Order.

Weiss sheathed Myrtenaster and extended a hand out to Richard. He received it with a smile.

"Welcome to CREED," Weiss said as she raised him up.

"Soo…that's it, no more kicks or punches?" Richard asked, remembering his encounter Yang.

"No, the test's over, you did better than most, I have to say you surprised me with your arrows."

"Well, I better restock I used them all up."

Around that time Ruby re-entered the arena and approached them.

"Well that was a fireworks show if I've ever seen one," Ruby sated as she walk in. "So how'd he do commander Weiss?"

"He's a bit rough around the edges, but he'll do as a spec ops operative," Weiss answered.

"Well then I think it's time for a well deserved rest," Ruby finished with a yawn.

"I couldn't agree more," Weiss smirked.

"Oh, that reminds me," Ruby said as she pulled out a slip of paper, "your quarters for the time being before we set you up properly."

Richard received the slip and gave a quick glance as Ruby and Weiss began to walk out.

"Oh one last thing," Ruby said as she turned around, "You'll report in the armory tomorrow at O'600, from their you'll be given orders from the head of Special Operations herself, G'night."

She turned back and continued walking with Weiss out of the arena. As soon as they exited Richard collapsed on the floor from exhaustion, it has certainly been a long day. A guard of the arena walked up to Richard sitting on the floor.

"Your belongings?" He said holding up the bag.

Richard looked up, "Just leave it there," he said as he moved his arms back to support himself.

The guard dropped the bag and walked back to his post. Richard didn't know the time, but he assumed it was getting late. He picked himself up and grabbed his bag as he walked out of the arena. On his way out he checked the paper Ruby gave him. He read 'Barracks: R1 Block: 4 Room: 3' on the slip.

"R1, 4, 3," he repeated to himself, "Now, where is that?"


	33. Soory Eh 2

I must apologize but for personal reasons I won't be writing anymore chapters until further notice. Sorry for another long delay.


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